Jess Haines - Enslaved By the Others

Gideon and the vampire both watched us with avid interest as Iana and I helped Arnold and Sara settle on a nearby settee. Iana was breathing hard, but the blood on her hands and smearing her white robe weren’t hers. As soon as he stopped coughing so much, Arnold wrapped his arms around Sara, who clung to him, tears streaking down her pale cheeks.

“Oh,” Gideon said, his tone giving away his delight. “Oh, ho, ho! They’ve got it worse than I thought.”

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up.”

Gideon rolled his eyes, but obeyed the vampire. For the moment. The way he watched Arnold now was different and sent a pang of worry through me. Nothing that monster was planning could be any good. Not for the mage or Sara or anyone else.

Iana placed a hand between my shoulder blades, making me jump with the unexpected contact. Even with my heavy jacket between us, her blood ran hot enough to burn through the material. She sidled up beside me, her eyes alight with a deep golden glow as she stared down at Arnold. “Is this the one you promised me?”

The husky words might have sounded like desire coming from someone else. It was a type of desire, but there was nothing sexual in it. Just a deep and abiding longing for her freedom.

“Yes, that’s him. I think he needs a minute.”

“He does,” Arnold managed between coughs. Sara added a vehement nod, tightening her grip on him.

I backed off a bit, focusing on the doorway to give them a semblance of privacy. Not that they’d get it with Iana, Gideon, and the vampire all staring at them like bugs under a microscope.

Arnold sat up a bit straighter, his eyes going wide. Though still hoarse, his words were clear enough to send a chill through me.

“Shit. We need to move. Max found Kimberly and the others. We’ve got a serious problem.”

The sounds of fighting from the other room were still going strong. If I’d had one, I would have been tempted to pull out a stopwatch just to see how long they would keep it up. Considering the fight in Royce’s basement with Max had lasted half a night, it wouldn’t surprise me for this one to drag out for an hour or two as well. There was no way Angus, Soo-Jin, or any of the others would wrap that mess up in time to find Kimberly and the vampires who had gone with her.

Gideon cleared his throat. “I can help.”

The vampire smacked him on the back of the head. He cried out and shot forward, cheek and chest smacking against the opposite wall. He couldn’t catch himself, sinking to his knees with a groan.

Iana stalked over to him, grabbing his jaw and forcing him to look up at her. “How can you help, dark one? I know what you are.”

“The mage is tapped. I can fix that. Once I fix that, he can fix you.”

I stood a bit straighter, tension building in my arms and shoulders. “That doesn’t sound right. Don’t trust him. Not with that.”

Gideon growled and fought the bindings on his wrist. “For fuck’s sake, I want Max dead as badly as you do. Fabian will never be mine as long as Max is alive to control him and take all his wealth in tributes. We want our freedom, just like you! Let me go and I’ll do whatever you want.”

Iana studied his face briefly, then smiled without humor. “It sounds like truth, but smells like deceit. Nice try, heartless thing. I know you for what you are. I see you.”

The necromancer inclined his head, his own smile sly but humorless, as much as admitting defeat. There was something comforting about knowing Iana was Other enough to smell his lies. At least one of us had that power. “Fine. Not all lies. Half-truths, maybe.”

“Come on. We don’t have time for this. Kimberly needs help,” Arnold said.

Iana frowned and shoved the necromancer down, leaving him to get up on his own off the floor. She stalked over to the mage, baring her teeth in a semblance of a smile. “Fine. Remove the collar and I will save this woman, assuming there is anything left to save.”

Arnold, holding Sara against him and stroking her hair, studied Iana. He reached up to nudge his glasses farther up on his nose, then gestured for her to come closer.

“I’m not too tapped for that. Turn around and kneel for me, please. And hold your hair out of the way.”

She did as instructed, practically vibrating with suppressed excitement. Arnold winced when he saw how red and raw the skin was around the collar. A few feet away, despite looking a bit put out, Gideon pretended not to watch and had taken to sulking in a crouch by the wall.

“We’ll heal this. When it’s off. When we get out of here, there’s someone—”

“If you remove it, that will not be necessary,” she said.

Arnold didn’t waste any more time with small talk. With one arm around Sara’s waist, he reached out to circle his fingers around the collar. He closed his eyes tight, an expression of intense concentration crossing his features. Iana didn’t move, but her eyes closed as well, her teeth bared in anticipation.

A sharp crack sounded. The metal grew dull, losing a sheen I hadn’t quite realized it had until it was gone, and it fell away to clatter on the floor.

Iana surged to her feet, her eyes and skin blazing with a warm, golden glow as she spread her arms. That warmth began gathering in her palms like she was holding growing balls of condensed sunlight. A low growl rumbled in her throat and rattled my bones like the thunder of a diesel engine as she turned her focus on the necromancer, who was making an effort to inch away from the pissed off Other leaning meaningfully in his direction.

“Don’t,” I warned. “We need him to find Max.”

She looked less than pleased and didn’t give any sign that she heard me. Instead, she took a step closer, her fingers curled into talons around the globes of light in her palms. Even the vampire was looking nervous by this point.

“Iana.”

She paused, fingers twitching, never once turning her fierce gaze off of Gideon’s cringing frame to focus on me.

“Listen to me. We need him. Now is not the time for this.”

Gideon, pale and shivering, bobbed his head up and down. “Right, I’m useful, remember? You need me.”

Her growl deepened in pitch, then cut off. The sense of a storm gathering around her, all crackle and electricity, faded. “So be it.” The light gathering in her hands disappeared like it had never been. She moved on the balls of her feet, still too predatory for my liking, and yanked the necromancer around to slice through the bonds on his wrists with her nails.

The vampire dashed forward, grabbing their arms so neither could slip away. His features twisted in a what-in-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you glare I was more used to seeing being leveled in my direction.

He didn’t keep it up for long. Gideon’s free arm slid around until his palm—the one with the tattoo—rested over the vampire’s heart.

That was all it took. In the space of a breath, the vampire’s expression went blank, a chill wind with no origin I could detect sliding through the hall. Every hair on my body stood on end, an electric tingle skittering over my skin until I broke out in goose bumps.

The vampire loosened his grip on Gideon, and the necromancer took a step back, favoring Iana with a dazzling smile as he straightened the lapels of his suit jacket. All traces of his earlier fright were gone.

“Much better. Oh, don’t look so put out. I’ll let him go once I’m done with him. The girl, on the other hand . . .”

Sara made an inarticulate sound of protest and I gasped, somehow managing to be surprised at the necromancer’s duplicity. Arnold struggled to his feet, putting himself in front of Sara and raising his hands. Blue-white sparks crackled around his fingertips. Gideon laughed.

“Come on, now,” Gideon said, his grin widening. “You really want to see who has the bigger magical—or otherwise— cojones here? I promise you it’s me.”