“Yes. We were fooled by our parents and their government. But he’s taught us the real truth, and we love him for that.”
“What did he teach you? I’d like to learn.”
“We can only be free when we break away from the chains of authority, revolting against those who want to enslave us to serve their interests.”
“And what do I or my people have to do with this? Why kidnap the children who look to me for safety just as you look to Sakal?”
“Because you’re a monster,” she spat back at him. “A demon who would enslave us all to feed his unholy hunger and nourish the vampires he’s created.”
“Is that why you took the children?”
“We took them to save them.”
She was so earnest that he believed she believed, though he knew better. Sakal would have killed those children if forced to it, if only for the pain it would have caused Xavier. He wouldn’t have cared about the pain of their parents, their families.
“They have parents, Cláudia. Families who love them and would miss them.” He didn’t know why he was trying reason with her. But she was so young. It was a shame she’d been used by Sakal, and would now die at Xavier’s hands.
“It’s too late for their parents, but the children can still be saved.”
“I see,” he said, sighing. “Then tell me. Where is Lord Sakal?”
She clamped her lips tight and glared up at him.
“I’m sorry,” he said, then gripped her arm and gave her pain.
She screamed, going stiff within the bonds, too terrified to thrash, in too much agony to move the slightest muscle. Tears were streaming down her face when he released her, and when she sobbed, it was as if she would empty her chest, the sound she made was so hard and so full of pain.
“Where is Lord Sakal?” he repeated softly and waited until her sobs let up enough that she could breathe, knowing that the pain would have lessened just enough to permit her to speak, while lying in wait in a way that she would feel it lurking, would know it could pounce at any moment.
“He saved me. I don’t want to betray him,” she said in a pitiful voice, as if hoping that Xavier would release her out of pity.
She knew too little of vampires, if she thought that. Xavier had no pity left for any but the ones he loved. And even they would diminish in his eyes if they ever betrayed him.
“You love him,” Xavier said reasonably. “But he is hurting the ones I love. He is willing to kill, or send you to kill to further his goals. And I am willing to kill anyone who would hurt those whom I love, including every man, woman, and child who lives within my Fortalesa, and looks to me for protection.”
“I can’t,” she pleaded, straining against her bonds as much as she could. He gripped her arm again and before he’d even begun to increase the pain, she screamed, “Please! I can’t!”
“But you can, nena. And you will.”
Blood was pouring from her eyes, from her nose, and the arm where he’d gripped her was burned as if from a fire, but she eventually told him everything he needed to know.
“He comes to us every night,” she whispered, shivering from the pain, now utterly defeated.
“He comes to you,” Xavier repeated. “But he doesn’t live with you, doesn’t stay with you.”
“No. We have a farm of our own. We grow food, and we have animals for meat and cheese.”
“Where does he go at night then?”
“I don’t know,” she said, then stared up at him in sudden terror. “I don’t. It’s the truth. None of us knows. He has guards who are always with him. They take down his words when he teaches us, so that we may study and learn.”
“They live with him?” he asked, suddenly knowing exactly where Sakal’s blood was coming from.
“I think they must.”
Xavier’s mouth quirked up in a cynical smile. “These assistants . . . are they women?”
“Yes. His very first students,” she said eagerly. “They’ve been with him from the beginning of his journey to teach the truth.”
“Where do they live with him?”
Fear clouded her eyes again. “I don’t know. I told you. I don’t know.” She began crying again.
“Cláudia.” His voice was cold and demanding as he stared down at her. “Tell me the truth.”
She shuddered, choking on a final sob as she tried to hold them back. “They leave every night,” she said, her voice hitching on the final words. “But I don’t know—Wait!” she screamed when he lifted his hand. “Barcelona. He lives in Barcelona. In a, a building, not a house.”
Xavier tilted his head curiously. “How did you discover that?”
“I didn’t, not by myself. One of the others told me. He described a beautiful, gold building like a temple, where he first learned of Lord Sakal’s truth.”
“He remembered being there?” Xavier thought that odd, either that, or very negligent. Surely Sakal wasn’t stupid enough to recruit new acolytes where he lived.
“It was his first night on the farm,” she whispered, barely audible. “He, he disappeared after that.”
“Of course, he did. When Sakal and the women leave you, how do they leave? Helicopter? Do they drive away in a vehicle?”
“Vehicle,” she said in that same bare whisper. “A big one. Black . . . all over, windows, too.”
He glanced at Joachim who jerked his chin at the girl and mouthed the word, “Where?”
Nodding his understanding and irritated that he hadn’t thought of it, he asked, “Where do you and the others live, Cláudia? We’ll give you a ride home.”
Her expression when she looked at him was so full of hope that he hated himself for deceiving her, but only for an instant. If he set her free, she would go straight back to her friends and they’d report to Sakal. Better the damn sorcerer not know that Xavier had any idea what he was up to.
And even better that he not know Xavier was coming for him.
LAYLA WAS BOTH uneasy and curious when she accompanied Xavier out of the interrogation area and back along the way they’d come. Joachim and Chuy had remained with the prisoner, and she had to ask the question, even though she wasn’t at all sure she wanted to know the answer.