Make Me Page 2

  Our energy fields intersected in the close confines of the doorway and Lola licked into him. I didn’t pull back—he deserved a good licking.

  The tall, lean cowboy didn’t react, though. He just raised an eyebrow as if to say, “You really want to go there?”

  POINT TO AUSTIN, Fang said with a laugh.

  Shut up. I shoved past Austin into the kitchen, disappointing Lola once more. “In his study?” I asked without looking back.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Austin didn’t bother to hide the amusement in his voice.

  I tried not to stomp out my frustration as we headed to find Alejandro. Luis gestured me into the room I’d visited far too often. Very masculine, very Mediterranean, very dark… except for the sun-drenched mural of a beach scene covering the wall across from Alejandro’s desk. Then again, if I’d been unable to see the sun as long as he had, I’d probably want a view like that, too.

  I flopped into a chair across from Alejandro and his massive wooden desk and said, “So, boss, what’s this I hear about you going to Austin?”

  Luis scowled. He hated it when I treated Alejandro so informally. That’s why I did it, of course, and Alejandro didn’t mind. Luis and Austin took up positions behind their boss and I wondered where Rosa was.

  MAYBE SHE WAS PUT IN A CORNER FOR SPILLING THE BEANS, Fang suggested.

  “I am afraid our trip to Austin is necessary,” Alejandro said.

  “Why?”

  The vamp leader absently rubbed the bust of Cortes he kept on his desk. “The situation in the state capital has changed. The legislation we were counting on to protect us when we come out and keep the unaffiliated ones in their place is stalled.”

  I grimaced. I hated politics as much as I hated secrets.

  MAYBE BECAUSE THEY GO HAND IN HAND.

  Probably. “What does that mean, stalled?”

  Alejandro shook his head, a puzzled expression on his face. “I wish I knew. My calls are not being returned, and there has been no communication from my supporters. We shall have to go there to see what is happening.”

  I was all for getting those laws in place so the Movement could come out and I could satisfy my contract with Alejandro, but… “Why do you need me?”

  “Because you can go where I cannot,” Alejandro said with a smile.

  Who was going to keep a vampire out of anywhere he wanted to go? “Like where?”

  Austin’s mouth quirked up. “Like daylight.”

  Oh.

  “Indeed,” Alejandro agreed. “You are the only one I can trust to protect my interests while I’m there, to live in my world and not reveal what you discover, to act for me during the daytime.”

  Fang huffed with amusement. HE WANTS YOU TO BE HIS RENFIELD.

  I didn’t find that at all funny. It was a pretty tall order. But, unfortunately, I couldn’t argue with the vamp leader’s logic. “Rosa seemed to think you wanted me to be some kind of bodyguard.”

  Alejandro waved away my objection. “Rosa is overly protective. We cannot invade another vampire’s territory without permission. Without it, we risk much. I have gained that permission, but have agreed to bring only four with me. I shall take Austin and Vincent, and leave Luis and Rosa in charge here.”

  No wonder Rosa was peeved, with only two vamps to guard her boss’s back. “If I’m the third, who’s the fourth? Fang? Does Fang count?”

  FANG ALWAYS COUNTS.

  “No, Fang does not count as the fourth,” Alejandro said with a smile, “though I see no reason why he cannot come. The fourth will be Jack Grady.”

  Grady? The former keeper of the Encyclopedia Magicka was an odd choice. “Why him?”

  “The encyclopedia can be a powerful weapon in our favor. He knows how to wield it, and you do not. We need him to get you up to speed as fast as possible.”

  Good luck with that. I’d tried with no luck. He was supposed to be training me on how to tap the magick potential in the books, but the only thing he’d done the past few days was pig out on Gwen’s food and hog Shade’s bed.

  “I have already spoken with Mr. Blackburn and the Demon Underground has agreed to let me take both of you,” Alejandro said. “I have made arrangements for a place to stay so we can leave tomorrow night when the sun goes down.”

  Why not? I’d only been to Austin a few times, and it would be something different than the same old, same old. “Do you have any idea how long we’ll be gone? Mom will kill me if I miss Christmas.” And since Mom and I had kind of a truce going on, I didn’t want to screw that up.

  “It’s little more than an hour away,” Austin drawled. “I think you’ll be able to come home to Mommy when you need to.”

  I clamped my lips on an unwise comeback and resolved not to let him get to me. “Okay. Should I pack?”

  “Yes,” Alejandro said. “Pack for a couple of weeks. It’ll make it easier than returning here for a change of clothing or necessities. You may go now if you wish.”

  I definitely wished, though I didn’t care for his master to servant phrasing. Glancing down at Fang, I asked, You ready?

  In answer, he got up and trotted away, pausing in front of the study door to glance expectantly over his shoulder at Austin.

  The cowboy rolled his eyes, but followed Fang’s unspoken bidding and opened the door for him.

  How do you do that?

  CHARISMA, BABE, SHEER CHARISMA.

  Shaking my head, I followed him down the hallway and out the front door. I straddled my Valkyrie motorcycle and waited for him to jump up into his own leather and sheepskin seat, then helped him on with his goggles.

  I sped home on the dark, silent streets of San Antonio. There weren’t many people out in the early hours of the morning, so I was able to drive on autopilot and make plans for the unexpected free time. I could take a hot bath to soak out my aches and pains, maybe even get some extra sleep before I had to show up at Alejandro’s tomorrow. After all, who knew what awaited us in the state’s capital?

  When we arrived home, I took off Fang’s goggles and he jumped down.

  “Hungry?” I asked. Usually, he’d be pestering me for food right about now.

  SORRY, BABE.

  “For what?”

  A dark cloth fell over my head and someone grabbed me, trying to pin my arms. What the… ? I struck out with my foot, connecting with someone who let out an oof.

  YOU’LL HAVE TO SEDATE HER, Fang said, and I felt the sudden prick of a needle in my arm.

  My mind grew fuzzy. Fang? What’s happening?

  No response.

  “Thanks, Fang,” a man said. “We owe you one.”

  I had only one thought as I lost consciousness. Traitor.

  Chapter Two

  I woke feeling groggy, as if someone had stuffed cotton candy in my head. As I fought to clear strands of sticky pink cobwebs from my brain, I realized I was lying on my side on some yielding surface—a bed?—with something covering me. I didn’t seem to be bound at all, which surprised me. Without opening my eyes to alert my captors that I was awake, I tried to get some idea of where I was. It smelled dank and musty, with a strange hint of vanilla, but I couldn’t hear any sounds of life.

  Tentatively, I opened my eyes a slit. No help. The room was dark, with only a small bit of flickering light—a candle somewhere nearby, which must be the source of the vanilla. I lay facing a wall, and there was nothing I could see to help me figure out where I was or who had done this to me.

  The beginnings of panic threatened to consume me, followed by a gut-wrenching feeling of betrayal. Why had Fang helped them? He was the best friend I’d ever had, the one I could always count on. Or at least, he used to be. Loss and pain swamped me, made me unable to think for a moment.

  But I gritted past that and wondered what to do. Heck, I knew what I should have done. I hadn’t even thought to use Lola on my kidnappers. Austin was right. I’d let down my guard and look what had happened. I couldn’t continue to ignore what I was. That was going to get me killed.
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  Embracing Lola could help me find out if there were any men nearby I could coerce into helping me. I reached for her, but couldn’t find her. It was as if she were imprisoned behind that sticky web.

  A male voice suddenly appeared from somewhere beyond me. “Fang says you’re awake.”

  That pissed me off. I leapt up, or rather, tried to. The blanket covering me tangled my arms and legs and I ended up falling on the floor. I fought my way free, struggled to stand and discovered it didn’t do me any good. Silver bars had me penned in like an animal. I was in a prison cell, fergawdsake.

  I swayed dizzily on my feet. The drug in my system, coupled with the dim candlelight, made it difficult to focus, but I could see there were two people standing on the other side of the bars and a smaller, fuzzy blob that had to be my ex-friend, Fang.

  What the hell is going on? I asked Fang.

  No answer. It was as if the web caught my thoughts and bounced them back at me. Nothing penetrated except a dull, throbbing headache.

  I stumbled forward and grabbed the bars, trying desperately to clear my brain. Now I could see that one of my jailers was a guy, maybe in his midtwenties, with dark curly hair and a concerned expression. He looked a lot like Micah, except for the burn scars that puckered the left half of his face. The other person was a girl, maybe fourteen years old. She was petite, with long dark hair, half of which she’d piled sloppily on top of her head with hairsticks stuck in haphazardly. The other half fell partially over her face. The hair and the determined look on her face made me revise her age upward. Okay, maybe seventeen.

  “Who are you?” I demanded. “Why did you do this to me?”

  “I’m David and this is Pia,” he said, nodding at the girl. “It’s all right, we don’t want to hurt you. We just want to talk.”

  “That’s why you drugged and imprisoned me?”

  “Your reputation precedes you.” He glanced down at the hellhound. “Fang said it wasn’t necessary, but we couldn’t take the chance he was wrong.”

  “Fang said?” For the first time since I’d opened my eyes, the weight crushing my heart lifted the tiniest bit. I looked at Fang. “He knew you wanted just to talk to me?”

  “Yes, but Pia didn’t feel safe until your powers were tamed and you were kept at a distance.”

  “And it’s all-important that Pia feels safe?” I asked incredulously.

  “Yes, it is,” he said, gazing earnestly into my eyes. “Have a seat and I’ll explain.”

  “Let me out first.”

  He shook his head. “After we talk, I’ll let you out. I promise.”

  Yeah, as soon as I was able to use Lola, he’d do anything I wanted. “At least turn the lights up,” I said. I wanted to see more of the area, figure out where I was, locate potential weapons.

  David shook his head. “The low lighting is for your benefit. The drug makes you hypersensitive to light. If I turn them up, you’ll get a migraine.”

  It pained me, but I looked at Fang for confirmation. He nodded to indicate David was telling the truth. The hellhound’s big brown eyes pleaded with me to understand, to forgive him. I closed my eyes, desperately wanting to believe my best friend really did have good reason, a reason I didn’t yet know, but I couldn’t hear him to get that reason. And I couldn’t hear him because he’d let someone drug me. I hate this.

  “Please,” David said. “Have a seat.”

  Why not? I was still feeling wobbly. I glanced around and noticed that there was a soft-looking armchair sitting next to the bars, with a sink and toilet on the other side in the small cell. The chair looked really out of place, so I guessed they must have put it there to make me comfortable.

  I sat in it, and the guy seemed to relax. He and the girl pulled wooden chairs from along the wall opposite my cage and set them on the other side of the bars. David stared at me solemnly for a moment, turning the ruined part of his face away from me. “This is what it used to be like, you know,” he said softly.

  “What?”

  “During the Inquisition and the Salem witch trials. Humans didn’t understand us, were afraid of us, so they labeled us witch and imprisoned us, drowned us, burned us.”

  “Us?”

  “Part-demons,” he explained. “Like you and me. And Pia and Fang.”

  Part-demons? I wondered what their powers were, why they felt it necessary to take mine away. Why Pia didn’t feel safe until I was behind bars. Or so David said. She hadn’t said anything so far. I wasn’t willing to give them the benefit of the doubt yet. “Well, you’ve got the imprisonment part down pat. What’s next? Drowning or burning?”

  He looked taken aback, offended even. “Neither. What kind of people do you think we are?”

  I didn’t really believe it, but wanted to throw him off guard. “I think you’re the kind who would drug and kidnap someone just to talk to her. Are drowning and burning really that much of a stretch?”

  He shook his head, and the soft light created shadows on his scars, making the side of his face look like a pockmarked, desolate moon. “We’re not monsters. And we did this partially to show you what it’s like to feel helpless, under someone else’s control. How… awful it is.”

  I glanced at Pia whose eyes hardened as she gave me a challenging stare. No help from that quarter. And I revised her age upward again. “Okay, so why was it necessary?”

  “Do you know why the Demon Underground was formed?”

  I felt my brain start to clear. I wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but I played along. “Sure. To help us find our place in the human world, find us jobs, help us blend—that sort of thing.”

  He shook his head. “That is what it has become, but that isn’t why it was originally formed. It was created to help people like us, to protect us, keep us safe from human witch hunts, and to ensure no one learned of our existence who could harm us.”

  “Is that really necessary anymore? I haven’t heard of any modern-day Inquisitions.”

  “Haven’t you?” David asked with a raised eyebrow. “And why is that?”

  “Uh, because there aren’t any?”

  “Oh, but there are. You just don’t hear about them.”

  “Like what?” I poked at the limits of the sticky strands encasing Lola. They seemed to be giving way a little.

  “Like a small town afraid of a family who were a little different. So afraid that they torched their house and burned them alive—a part-demon father and daughter, and a human mother lost their lives, killed horribly. Only the eleven-year-old son survived.”

  Pia ran her fingers lightly over the ruined half of David’s face, looking sad.

  Horror rippled through me. “You?”

  He nodded. “And the father who was so afraid of his daughter’s voice that he made sure she could never, ever sing.”

  He made some kind of strange gesture to Pia who pulled her hair aside so I could see the ragged scar where her larynx used to be. “Her father did that to her?” I asked, horrified. No wonder she hadn’t said anything. “Why?”

  “Because she’s a siren.”

  “Siren… like in The Odyssey?” If I remembered my reading, sirens were women who bewitched sailors with the sound of their voices.

  He nodded. “That should have been enough, but he went even further.” He glanced at the girl. “Show her, Pia.”

  Pia hesitated, then opened her mouth. I didn’t know what I was supposed to see, so I leaned forward to get a better look. Unfortunately, I did. Where her tongue should have been, there was nothing but a stump.

  Nausea churned through me and I threw myself back in the chair, covering my eyes with my hands to shut out the sight. “I’m so, so sorry.” It made me want to find the people who had done these horrible things and rend them in two.

  David added softly, “How about the parents who treat their daughter like a freak, encourage her to fight deadly vampires, then kick her out of the house when she turns eighteen?”

  “M—me?”

  P
ia nodded solemnly. And I finally heard Fang’s voice in my head. YOU, he confirmed.

  Startled, I glanced at him. What’s this all about?

  PLEASE, JUST HEAR HIM OUT, Fang said. HE’LL EXPLAIN.

  If I could hear Fang, maybe I could reach Lola. Yes, I could. Maybe I could reach David, force him to let me out. I’d still listen to him, but on my terms.

  I WOULDN’T DO THAT IF I WERE YOU, Fang warned.

  Why should I listen to you? I sent a few tendrils toward David.

  “What are you doing?” David asked suspiciously before I even reached him. Apparently, I couldn’t hide the purple eye flash.

  Pia’s eyes narrowed as she whipped up her hand to yank out one of those hairsticks and threw it at me. It thumped into the chair arm and pinned my sleeve. Startled, I let Lola go.

  TOLD YA, Fang said. BUT WOULD YOU LISTEN? NOOOO, NOT THE SLAYER. SHE ALWAYS THINKS SHE KNOWS BEST.

  I glared at him, and David said, “That was just a warning. She’s very, very good with her knives.”

  That was a knife? I pulled it out of the arm and checked it out. Sure enough, it was a small thin blade, the handle made to look like a hairstick. Very sharp, very deadly. “Who’s going to protect me from her?” I asked.

  Pia’s fear turned to a smile and she laughed silently. Never to be able to talk, to sing, or even laugh… I couldn’t imagine. I put the small stiletto down on the floor and slid it back to her, hilt first, as a sort of peace offering.

  Okay, I got it. She had reason to be frightened. I fingered the hole in my sleeve. And if she was still afraid of me, even with those lethal weapons of hers, then she must really need the reassurance of me behind bars and out of David’s chakras.

  SHE DOES, Fang confirmed. PLEASE, HUMOR US IN THIS? HE’LL MAKE EVERYTHING CLEAR.

  Okay.

  As Pia retrieved her knife and inserted it very carefully back into her hair, David said, “So long as you don’t harm us, we won’t harm you.”

  “All right.” I glanced at Pia. What were we talking about, again? I mentally rewound the conversation. Oh, yeah. “My parents didn’t abuse me,” I said.

  David cocked his head. “There are other kinds of abuse than the physical.”