Blood Shadows (35 page)

‘You looked me in the eye,’ she said to Max, ‘and you told me there was no link.’ She glowered at Rob. ‘And worse than that, so did you. Is that why you left me, Rob? Were you too ashamed to face me? Or were you too scared of what was coming for me?’

‘We tried to find out what it was,’ Rob insisted. ‘We worked flat out trying to get a name for it so at least we could ask the right questions. But no one would talk to us. No one knew anything.’

‘Do you blame them, if they suspected what you’d done? Do you really think any third-species member who had heard what had happened to Arana really believed it was the lycans? They knew, Rob. The whole community knew it was a set-up. No wonder they never talked. No wonder no one would ever answer my questions. The community closed in on itself because of what you all did. And do you know what? You just made them respect Kane more. You just made them admire and trust him more because he showed intelligence and control and dignity. He didn’t tear the community apart like Xavier was hoping. He wanted to turn Kane’s own people against him. And he failed. And he’ll keep failing because Kane is untouchable.’

‘Clearly not,’ Rob said. ‘Not anymore. We got him in the end, didn’t we?’

Caitlin’s stomach clenched as the whole truth unravelled before her. ‘You didn’t just come back for me, did you? You were already coming back. You knew the clock was ticking.’ She stared at Max aghast. ‘You could have locked me away somewhere if you’d wanted, but you used me for bait, just like Xavier did. You wanted Kane just as much.’

‘We had no choice if we were to help you,’ Max said. ‘We needed to find a way to stop that thing.’

‘The soul ripper.’

Max frowned. ‘What?’

‘That’s the nickname for it. Why do you think I took the task, Max?’

Rob looked across at Max. ‘I told you there was more to it.’

Max’s eyes widened in disbelief. ‘Kane told you what it is?’

Caitlin nodded.

‘Did he tell you how to kill it too?’

Caitlin shook her head. ‘But he will.’ There was no way they were taking him now. No way. She’d sort this. She’d sort this with Kane her way. ‘And for that you both need to walk right back out of that door. Now.’

Rob exhaled curtly and stepped up to her. ‘Not going to happen. Come on, let’s get you in the car.’

She pulled back, snatching her arm away. ‘Don’t you touch me,’ she warned, her tone dangerously low.

Rob pulled back, impatience emanating in his eyes.

He and Max exchanged glances in a way that made Caitlin’s skin crawl with unease. She saw Max reach into his jacket pocket, and knew what he was planning.

Caitlin tried to back away, but Rob caught hold of her, clamped his hand over her mouth to silence her protests.

She tried to kick out again as Max slid the needle into the crook of her arm.

‘I know you’re angry right now,’ Rob said. ‘But you’ll understand. We started this and we’re going to finish it. Tomorrow night we will kill that soul ripper and this will all be over. I promise.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

K
ane woke with an adrenaline-infused start. He quickly scanned the basement.

Rob stood directly ahead, a few feet away, arms folded as he leaned against a bench, his blue eyes stony.

Placing a wooden chair equidistant between them, Max eased back in it. ‘Hello, Kane.’

Kane assessed the manacles that held his arms outstretched and gently twisted his arms to test their resilience. The hinges were tight, melded. He had no numbness or ache so he hadn’t been there long. The manacles that held his feet secure to the floor gave him no room for flexion. He wasn’t going anywhere fast.

He surveyed the implements hanging from the walls – the iron and silver tools. The bench running along to his right looking like something out of an operating theatre with its sharp implements, syringes and jars of liquid and paste. Soundproofed. Airtight. He wondered how many other vampires had been brought to the torture chamber when legal methods weren’t yielding results. And he’d heard Max always liked to get results.

There was no sign of Caitlin. Equally there was no sign of Carter. If he had been involved it would have been him waking him – he wouldn’t have been able to resist. This had been done on the quiet – which meant one thing: this was purely personal. And it took no guesses to work out what they wanted. Max had woken him quickly and that meant he needed information quickly. This was about saving Caitlin.

‘I’m going to keep this simple, Kane,’ Max said. ‘I want to know how to kill the soul ripper.’

Kane glowered at Max and flexed his wrists in the restraints. ‘Is this you asking nicely?’

‘This is me telling you nicely.’

‘Because that’s going to work.’

Max leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. ‘Let’s not play games, Kane. Caitlin’s given us a name. Now we want to know the rest.’

‘Where is the lovely Caitlin?’

‘Somewhere you’ll never get to her again,’ Rob said, his glare unflinching.

‘I’ve seen the state of her, Kane,’ Max declared. ‘That doesn’t make me happy.’

‘Trust me,’ Kane said, sending a glance Rob’s way. ‘I didn’t do anything she didn’t want. She certainly wasn’t objecting,’ he added with a smirk. ‘Not in the end, anyway.’

Rob stood upright from the bench and marched towards him, but Max held out an arm, blocking his way. Their glares locked for a moment, then Rob reluctantly took a step back.

‘That’s quite a temper you’ve got there, Robert,’ Kane declared, meeting his glare square on. ‘It must be all that pent-up sexual frustration. Caitlin was telling me about some of your difficulties. While I was helping her work through some of hers.’

Max stood up, drew back his fist and slammed it into Kane’s chest.

Kane winced, the tautness of his binds giving him little room for flexion to soften the impact. It was a powerful punch. An emotive one. Max meant business, he had no doubt about that. He glared back up at Max as he took a couple of steps back. ‘You’re making a bad mistake.’

‘No, you made a bad mistake going after Caitlin. You made a mistake getting her involved.’

‘I didn’t get her involved, Max,’ Kane reminded him. ‘You did.’

‘That was a long time ago, Kane,’ Max declared. ‘You really should have got over it by now.’

Kane glared up into his steely grey eyes. ‘Then untie me and let’s resolve this.’

Max lifted the chair and placed it closer, sitting on it so he was less than a foot away. He leaned forward. ‘Your bitch of a sister killed my best friend and my wife. That thing she set on them is not going to get Caitlin. I have less than 24 hours, Kane. You will talk. Do it now and preserve your dignity.’

‘Which part of Fuck you are you not getting?’

‘What are you up to, Kane? Why now?’

‘You allowed my sister to be brutalised and murdered. I want to feel better about that.’

‘By going after Caitlin? She has done nothing to you other than be the unfortunate link in all of this.’

‘Like my sister was?’

‘Caitlin does not deserve that thing coming after her.’

‘I can’t help what you caused. What Xavier caused.’

‘If you knew all this time, why now? Why have you left it so late?’

Kane held his gaze steadily on Max, and smirked.

Max looked across at Rob. ‘I think this is going to have to get nasty quickly.’

‘The sooner the better,’ Rob said.

Max strolled over to the table and lifted a silver knife. ‘I’ve been doing this for thirty years, Kane – getting information out of species like you. I used to have to use this room a lot. For the unofficial interrogations, of course.’ He strolled back over towards him. ‘The work to get the leads in the first place. You won’t believe some of the things I had to do down here. Lots of it was about you. But nobody would speak about you, of course. Scared. Revered. I never could break one over you. I had one vampire under a UV lamp for fourteen hours. There was nothing left of him, but still he’d say nothing. See, that’s the loyalty Xavier wants. That’s the power he’s jealous of. And he’s never going to rest until he’s got you. I know that much.’ He strolled around the back of him, put the point at his shoulder and dragged downwards, the searing heat making Kane wince. ‘The difference is Xavier wants you intact.’ He leaned into his ear. ‘I just want answers.’

The anger seethed through him, but he knew he had to contain it. If he wound them up too much he didn’t doubt they would take their chances and kill him.

‘So come on now, Kane,’ Max said. ‘Don’t make this hard on yourself.’

‘Maybe he wants to,’ Rob said. ‘Maybe it’s all that latent guilt about wasting time with a whore while his sister was being murdered. You always knew how to prioritise, didn’t you, Kane?’

Kane glowered up at him. ‘And where were your priorities when I had Caitlin pinned up against the wall in that corridor? When I took her from her own bed where you should have been?’

‘Tell us how to kill it, Kane,’ Max repeated.

Kane exhaled curtly, his glare on Max unflinching.

Rob wandered over to the table. He picked up a selection of iron nails and reached for a hammer.

‘I don’t have time for this,’ Max warned. ‘You will tell me how to stop the soul ripper. Even if it has to be when the last shred of skin is hanging off your body and the last drop of blood is clinging inside your veins, you will tell me.’

When Kane didn’t flinch, Max stepped back over to the bench. He picked up a syringe, pierced the foil lid of the bottle with the needle and drew up the contents. Kane could smell the garlic, as potent and concentrated as it could get.

Rob stopped in front of Kane, flipping a nail up in his hand and catching it again before placing it beneath Kane’s collar bone. He hammered the nail into his flesh.

Kane flinched and gritted his teeth as he silently cried out. He lowered his head for a moment then glared back at him, his hands straining in the manacles.

Max stopped in front of him. ‘Why now, Kane? It’s something to do with that soul ripper, isn’t it?’

Kane lowered his gaze as he licked the blood from his split lip.

Looking back up, he saw the flare in Max’s eyes, a momentary loss of composure. He heard the tightening of his breathing, the tension suddenly exuding from him. Max grabbed Kane’s jaw, forcing his head back. ‘I’ll rip those fangs out of your gums, if have to. Feed you cold, diluted blood via IV for the rest of your pitiful life.’

‘Let me see Caitlin.’

‘You have nothing to say to her.’

‘You know as well as she does that I’m her only hope. You kill me and she dies too. I know you know that or you would have already found what you’re looking for. You’re on a deadline, Max. This is just wasting time. How much does Caitlin mean to you? More than your pride? More than your fear for your own life?’

‘If I thought for one minute this might actually help her, then maybe we’d have something to negotiate with. But you have no intention of helping her, do you? And whatever you’re plotting, I’m not going to let it happen.’ He forcibly let go of his jaw. ‘I’m growing impatient, Kane,’ he said, holding up the syringe to let a bead of garlic essence leak out. ‘You might think you’re different, you might think you’re special, but when it comes down to it you’re all exactly the same. And I’m going to prove it.’

Caitlin flinched and opened her eyes. She lifted her head from amongst the cushions and scanned the familiar lounge. Being brought to safety, being in Max’s house, should have felt comforting. The relief should have been overwhelming, but instead panic clenched her chest. Despite the warmth of the room, the blanket they’d thrown over her, she felt cold.

Temples throbbing, her neck aching, she dropped her head back to the floor and examined the cuff that bound her wrist to the radiator. It was a VCU issue cuff and impossible to break from. They knew her too well.

She kicked the blanket off and scrambled from amongst the cushions to lean back against the wall, despite the further agony sitting up inflicted on her head.

She skimmed over the photographs on the dresser to her left. The photographs of Max and her father together. Photographs of her father and mother. Photographs of Max and her mother. Photographs of her.

The familiarity of the place she’d all but grown up in brought with it the stark light of reality, her time with Kane seemingly like a distant dream. But the throbbing in her newly applied bandage was a reminder it was all too real. And Max and Rob had him. Somewhere. Could be doing anything to him.

And she was responsible. Her chest ached.

But she had no choice. What was the alternative? Kane got what he wanted? Killed Xavier, Max, Rob, her? Destroyed the district? The locale? She might have liked to believe she could change Kane’s mind, but the cold light of day reminded her no one could throw Kane off course. Especially not now she knew he had been right all along. What alternative could she offer him? Letting those who had destroyed his life off with a lighter consequence? Would she let the soul ripper off?

She needed vengeance as much as him. If she wouldn’t waver from her mission, how could she expect him to? And the only way she’d get that vengeance was by forcing the truth out of him about how to kill that thing. That thing his own sister had evoked.