“And what would you do when they hunted you down and showed up at your house?”
“They grabbed me off the street. They have no idea who I am.”
“You didn’t have a purse on you?”
“I don’t carry purses….”
Her voice trailed off as her hands went to the front of her pockets. She didn’t carry purses, but she did keep a small holder with her ID and credit cards. She felt the emptiness of her pockets, but she couldn’t stop herself from continuing to pat them as if that would somehow make her ID magically reappear.
“But you had something else,” he said when she stopped speaking and a panicked look came over her face.
“It could have fallen out somewhere. I could have left it at the bar. I pulled it out to pay for drinks. I wasn’t drunk, but I had a good buzz going. It could easily be there. I could have….”
She couldn’t finish the sentence as she recalled her captor’s hands running over her body as she lay on the cold floor of the van. She didn’t think they’d taken anything from her, but she’d been so petrified she probably wouldn’t remember it.
“Just because it’s gone doesn’t mean they know who I am,” she stated.
“Is that a chance you’re willing to take?”
“What am I supposed to do, give up my entire life? And do what? I have nowhere else to go and no one to go to. If they know my name, then they can track me anywhere.”
Lucien pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes as he shoved aside his incessant, whispering thoughts to feed and kill. She needed him to be rational right now; he couldn’t give in to the madness seeping through his brain.
What do you care what she thinks or needs? It was a good question; he couldn’t recall the last time he considered someone else… outside of his friends in the Alliance. And even then, half the time, he’d prefer to take his friend’s feelings and shove them up their asses.
Why didn’t he feed on her and ease his misery? What did it matter if he harmed her? She may not want it, but what did he care? He wanted it.
He gritted his teeth against his impulse to take her blood and lowered his hands. Her cognac-colored eyes watched him warily while her distress beat against him, but she kept her chin high.
“It’s my life,” she said. “I can’t give it up.”
“If you go home, you’ll be giving it up. They will find you and kill you.”
The words came out callous, but they didn’t have time to stand here while she tried to figure out her life.
“Look, none of this will matter if we don’t get out of here,” he said. “We have a small window of time, and we need to take advantage of it. You can figure this out at another time. Until then, you’re coming with me.”
She recoiled a little from his pitiless words, and her eyes flew back to the doorway. Something in her eyes, and the way she winced before covering it up, caught his attention. He tried to figure out what he’d seen there, but his mind was too cluttered, and his hunting instincts kicked into hyperdrive as he prepared to chase her down again, but she didn’t try to flee.
“And where are we supposed to go?” she demanded as she waved a hand at him before turning it on herself. She wasn’t anywhere near as bad as him, but dirt and blood stained her clothes, and she was sure it was on her skin too. “We don’t exactly blend in.”
“We’re going to steal a car and get out of whatever city this is before nightfall.”
“You know how to steal a car?”
She didn’t know why she was so shocked by this revelation, considering he had red eyes, fangs, and was an immortal creature. But then, maybe he wasn’t immortal. Just because he was a vampire didn’t mean he could live forever.
Everything she knew about vampires, she learned from movies and books. She’d certainly never expected to find herself standing face-to-face with one.
“Yes.” He dug into his pocket and removed the metal key he’d taken from the Savage earlier. He turned it in his hand as he examined it; he could only hope it unlocked his manacles. “But first, we need to see if this key will unlock my chains.”
Callie studied the key as it glinted in the light beating down on the burning bodies. Thankfully, the fires were dying down as there was little flesh left to consume, and the fire wasn’t spreading across the floor as fast as she’d assumed it would.
“Can you unlock this?” he asked.
Callie started to tell him no, but the word froze in her throat. He’d managed to get them out of that place with those chains on, and he’d killed these two, but if he remained shackled and those monsters discovered them, he would eventually lose.
Besides, he’d gotten her to freedom; as much as she didn’t like it, she owed him for that. However, her feet remained planted where they were as she gazed between him, the burning vampires, the key, and back again. She didn’t want to get any closer to him.
Seeming to sense this, Lucien sighed and trudged toward her. She almost felt sorry for him as his head bowed and his shoulders hunched up. He’d spent a month in captivity with those things torturing him. And from what she could see, they’d done an excellent job with that torture as she seriously doubted he looked this awful before they got their hands on him.
When he stopped before her and held out the key, her hands trembled as she took it, but she slid it into the lock. Neither of them breathed as she twisted it to the side.
Something clicked, and the manacles gave way with a rattling clink as they hit the floor. Callie didn’t look at the metal. Instead, her gaze remained riveted on his wrists. The flesh had peeled away to reveal the muscle and bone beneath.
Despite this bastard having inflicted a great deal of pain on her, her heart went out to him. She was a healer at heart; usually, it was animals she healed, but she hated seeing anyone suffering.
She started to reach for him but pulled her hands back when she recalled he could kill her with a flick of his wrist. She clasped her hands before her. When she lifted her head, she found his vivid red eyes studying her.
“We should clean those wounds, or they’ll get infected,” she said.
“Things like that don’t concern me. Once I feed, they’ll heal.”
Callie cringed, and the reminder of his penchant for blood made her glad she hadn’t touched him.
Chapter Nine
Lucien was confident in his ability to steal a car. It would be easy to walk up to someone and talk them into handing over their keys.
They were back on the street for less than five minutes before encountering a man who was exiting a car that had started rusting during OJ’s murder trial. When the man saw Lucien approaching, he scrambled into the car, slammed the door, and locked the vehicle. Lucien stepped up to the driver’s side with its cracked-open window and started speaking to the man.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said in a soothing tone and hoped he was right. The frantic beat of the man’s heart caused saliva to pool in his mouth. “Get out of the car.”
“Fuck you,” the man replied as he shoved a key in the ignition.
“Look at me,” Lucien commanded as he strained to gain control over the man’s mind.