Chains of Darkness (9 page)

Then just like that, he was gone.

Her throat grew tight. “I can’t believe she was just here. I barely recognized her.”

Lucian drew several deep breaths. At first Claire didn’t know what was wrong, but then she felt it. “You’re starting to spiral again, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “We need to get back. Now.”

“Let’s go then.”

To her surprise, he didn’t inquire about return directions; he seemed to know the route even though it was miles long and took a number of twists and turns.

Throughout the flight, she remained quiet, hoping that in doing so, she wouldn’t aggravate the growing tension in his body and in his mind.

By the time he brought her to their room, he stumbled as he moved in the direction of the bed. “Claire, you’ve got to call Rumy, now. You’re not safe.” He was breathing hard, struggling to get sufficient air into his lungs.

Using the landline, Claire did. “Rumy I need you. Lucian’s blood-madness has returned. Please hurry.”

“I’m on my way with reinforcements.”

“Good.”

She hung up, but her hand trembled so badly that she had a hard time getting the handset back on the cradle.

Lucian leaned over the bed, his hands planted on the comforter, his eyes squeezed shut.

She felt myriad emotions swirl through the shared blood-chains—rage and fear, deep confusion, even shame.

She just hoped Rumy would get there in time.

But the next moment the door slammed open and Rumy walked in with three powerful vampires, each almost as big as Lucian.

Claire tucked herself into the corner of the room, which was as far as the chain-bond would allow her to go. The tug on her neck made her wince.

She held a hand to her mouth as she watched Rumy’s guards grab Lucian, tackle him to the bed, then work on the wrist restraints. The left restraint was attached to the steel bar on the side of the bed, but another steel loop, located between the halves of what proved to be a split mattress on top of the bed, held the other restraint. The ankles were lashed to the bar that ran across the bottom of the bed.

Lucian snarled and sank his fangs into each of the men in turn as they struggled to secure him. Yelps followed and a mountain of curses.

Lucian’s twisted, furious expression, as well as the madness that flowed through the chains, beat at Claire, speaking to her in a constant stream that kept her heart thumping loudly in her ears.

Once Lucian was subdued, all three heavily muscled guards stood back, checking their wounds. Blood flowed from a number of bites. To Claire’s surprise, however, each of them laughed.

“Damn, he’s strong.”

“Always was. Jesus, look how much I’m bleeding.”

The third guard chuckled. “I know. I’m gonna need a new shirt.”

Rumy’s voice drew Claire’s attention as he addressed his men. “Aw, you three babies need some Band-Aids? Want me to kiss your boo-boos, make them better?” His medical team moved in, as well as several more guards.

One of the initial guards grinned. “Would you, boss? I’d feel so much better.” But he had a chunk missing from his forearm, which he held away from him. Blood had formed a pool on the carpet.

Great. Just what she needed to be looking at.

Rumy jerked his thumb in the direction of the hall. “Stay at your posts, assholes. Let the medics take care of Lucian.”

Claire stared at Rumy, still shocked by all that had just happened. Between seeing Daniel again so soon and now having Lucian devolving into blood-madness, she wasn’t sure how much more she could take.

Meeting her gaze, he smiled and shrugged. “What can I say? We’re vampires. But please don’t worry. My men will be fine in about half an hour and the doc here will give Lucian something to calm him down, at least a little. And of course we’ll get someone in here to clean things up. You okay, though? None of this is very pretty, is it?”

Claire shifted to look at Lucian once more. “I don’t know where to begin. He was fine, then the madness returned so fast and he slipped back into this terrible state.”

“If it’s any consolation, my experience has been that what he’s about to go through right now, over the next few hours, will be the worst of it. He’ll have minor bouts later, now and then, but usually a major crisis will help put him on the road to full recovery.”

Claire didn’t know what to think. She was reminded yet again that this was a wildly different world.

Lucian pulled against the restraints, his back arching off the bed. His fangs still protruded as he snarled at the medical staff. His arms were now tightly secured in the restraints. The setup was a far cry from the chains that had held him captive in Daniel’s prison, but Claire hated to see him bound like this again.

One of the medics removed Lucian’s boots, then went to work cutting off his clothes in order to make him more comfortable. When the doctor gave him the shot, he settled down a little, but to Claire’s mind not all that much.

Once a sheet lay over the lower half of his body, Claire moved to stand at the foot of the bed. Rumy joined her, his gaze fixed on Lucian.

She glanced at Rumy, who’d never looked more solemn. “He’s the best of us, you know. He saved his brothers when he was only fifteen and helped them escape Daniel’s compound where they’d all been tortured since they were little. From that time, despite what happened to him, he’s worked for the four centuries of his life trying to make our world a better place, trying to keep the traffickers, of all kinds, from making the serious inroads they have.

“But he gets little enough credit. Of course having Daniel Briggs for a father has always made the average resident suspicious of him, and of his brothers.”

“I know that he’s an honorable man.” She touched her chain. “These don’t lie and I feel it with every breath he takes.” Another reason her desire for him seemed ever-present. She liked the vampire.

She then told Rumy what had happened, especially about seeing Zoey.

“Jesus,” he murmured. “That must have been horrifying for you.”

She put a hand over her stomach and pressed her fingers to her lips. Her throat grew tight all over again. “It was, but she’s alive. Only how are we supposed to exchange the extinction weapon for her?”

Rumy put his arm around her shoulders and gave a squeeze. “Don’t think about that. The important thing is, she’s alive. Later, once you’ve found the weapon, you and Lucian can figure out the next step.”

She turned back to Lucian, who had started to thrash once more. Whatever medication had been given to him clearly wasn’t a cure. She felt the agony he suffered even though he’d received a strong dose of her blood. “What can I do for him?”

“Not much. It’s the recovery process, sort of like withdrawal. He has to get through it, and he will.”

“How much longer will it take?”

Rumy shook his head. “I don’t know. Another day maybe.”

She could live with that.

Taking a deep breath, as deep as she could get, she placed a request. “Would you please have your housekeeping staff bring me a basin of cool water and a stack of fresh washcloths?”

“Of course.” He glanced at her with a warm light in his eye. “And what about you? What can I do for you?”

She smiled suddenly. “A mojito, the best one your bar makes, preferably something with sage and honey. I’m partial to sage especially.”

“I’ll bring you a pitcher.”

She sighed. “Sounds like a plan.”

He chuckled and drew his phone from his pocket. He repeated her orders to his staff, then held the phone to his shirt. “How about dinner? I know you’re not hungry now, but you have some hours yet to get through.”

“That’s probably wise.”

“Italian, say in four hours?”

“Perfect.”

He spoke once more into the phone. When he hung up, he said, “I’ll be back with your drinks.”

Not long after Rumy left, the doctor repeated essentially what Rumy had told her, especially that she needed to be alert and patient. Beyond that, Lucian would return to normal in a few hours; this would be the worst of it, followed by less significant episodes over the next few nights.

The team left shortly after so that she was once again alone with Lucian. She sat at the table, watching the vampire moaning and at times crying out. She would be in for a long night.

A few minutes later, however, Rumy returned with a suede wingback chair just for her and stationed it near Lucian’s side of the bed. Another waiter brought in a side table, covered it with maroon linen, and with a flourish set a silver tray down that bore a pitcher of what smelled like heaven, along with a tall glass of ice.

He poured the first mojito and garnished it with thin cucumber slices. She sipped, leaned back in her chair, and tried to let go of the nightmare that had, in the past few hours, become her life.

When the basin and clean washcloths arrived, she left the comfort of the chair and her drink, and dipped a cloth in the water.

Lucian now rocked his head from side to side, his eyes squeezed shut.

Lucian.
She thought maybe speaking to him telepathically might help.

He moaned, but began settling down. She put the now damp, cool cloth on his forehead. He was sweating, but his neck arched just a little at the feel of the cloth. His body relaxed, and his breathing evened out.

Is that better?

Fire. So hot. Where’s Claire? Marius? My brother. Oh, God, my brother.

I’m here, Lucian.

The chains told her he was lost in his grief and in the feverish whirlwind of his thoughts. She didn’t know what else to do, so she started telling him what Rumy had said about him. “He’s proud of you, did you know that? The leader of the underworld thinks you’re the best of all the vampires. I don’t know you very well, but I’m beginning to think he might be right. He said you’ve served for four hundred years.”

She continued in this vein and he seemed to relax a little bit more, taking deep breaths, a state that continued for some time. She resumed her seat and again sipped her drink, leaning her head into the wing part of the chair. She was more tired than she realized, and the mojito seemed to magnify her fatigue.

But a few minutes later she watched sweat bead on his upper lip and in the hollow of his throat. He started thrashing again.

She changed out the cloth and wiped all the way down his chest as well as his arms. The more she touched him, the more he seemed to calm down.

She continued to talk to him. She told him all about Josh, what it had been like to care for him for two years, how close she’d gotten to him, how often they played video games, and how much she missed him. She added that Rumy had given her an update on the boy once she’d arrived at The Erotic Passage: He was back with his mother and seemed to be thriving. “Adrien’s become a father to him, did you know that? At least that’s what Rumy said. See what you accomplished, Lucian? You kept Adrien safe, and now he’s able to keep Josh safe and Lily. You did good.”

He released a deep sigh, his brow still pinched, eyes still closed, but his body no longer spasmed and his breathing had once more settled down.

She returned to her seat and topped off her mojito.

Much later, between ministrations, dinner arrived. When she caught a whiff of the fresh bread, the pasta, and the salad, her stomach growled like she hadn’t eaten for a year. Being a blood donor in the vampire world and taking care of a sick warrior was hard work.

As soon as the wait staff left, she gobbled her food. Of course, it looked like she was eating for two now, a thought that made her smile because it seemed so absurd.

She glanced at Lucian, now lying peacefully on his back, his eyes closed, his arms at last slack in the bindings.

She munched on antipasto, swirled a bite of spaghetti Bolognese on her spoon, bit off a chunk of bread, and basically devoured her meal without one thought to manners.

It helped to be working on her third mojito between bites.

Of course, just as she was starting to relax, his legs began to thrash.

*   *   *

Lucian could smell the woman’s blood. What was her name? He couldn’t remember. He couldn’t really focus.

He was unable to reach her, either, which filled him with rage. Something held him back.

More chains. He was covered in chains head-to-foot, bloody chains.

He thrashed, trying to break free of them.

Something cool landed on his face then traveled down his chest, easing him.

He was so hot. He walked through hell, flames licking at him constantly.

He couldn’t see much, but images flashed through his mind, of Marius as a little boy. Of Adrien. They were laughing. Sometimes Daniel would be gone for days at a time and they could relax, their wounds healing.

Lucian always structured their play and made his brothers study between times of torture. One day they’d leave, but until then, Papa would return, chaining them to wood tables, teaching them how to be men by slicing them open.