Dark Redemption (19 page)

“Kate,”
Gio said her name with as much patience as he could muster, but panic spread
through him like wildfire. “What on God’s green earth is my brother doing in
the dungeon of Cacciatori Castle?”

“It’s
a long story,” Kate hissed. “One I don’t really have the time to tell right
now.”

“Give
me the abridged version then,” Giovanni insisted.

“Dominic
and I broke into a blood bank in Paris, but were ambushed by vampires. Dominic
was shot. I thought he was dead. I’ve since found out, Alexander kept him alive
and has been secretly torturing him in the dungeon ever since.”

“How
did you find out?” Something about her story didn’t quite fit. Giovanni needed
to know what it was. If he was going to dive head first into neck-deep shit, at
least he’d do it with his eyes wide open.

Kate
huffed in impatient aggravation. “That is none of your business.”

Gio
narrowed his eyes. What was she hiding?
“Fine.
If it’s
none of my business, then what are you calling me for?”

“I
want you to help me break Dominic out of Cacciatori Castle.”

Gio
caught his breath in a sharp gasp, and then let it out in a low hiss. “Kate, I
would walk through fire for my brother, you know that, but do you realize what
you’re asking?”

“Please.
He’s suffering, Gio,” she pled. “Tortured within an inch of his life, then
allowed to heal so they can do it all again. Please, help me. I have to save
him. I can’t get in and out of the castle in daylight alone.

“So
you call up your useless werewolf brother-in-law to storm a castle full of
vampires to rescue your werewolf husband from a medieval dungeon? Not exactly
the most promising plan, Kate.”

“But
we have to try,” Kate argued, desperation pinching her voice.

“And
try we shall,” Gio agreed grimly.
“Even if we all die in the
process.”

“I
don’t care if I die, Gio. I don’t want to live without him.”

“Even if it means an eternity
in Hell?”
Gio asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. He still didn’t know what
to think of his brother’s bride.

Kate
laughed,
a hollow sound that chilled his blood. “I’m
already in Hell.”

Gio
swallowed. “That may be, but there’s a lot more at stake here than just your
happiness.”

“I
know,” Kate sighed. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“Let
me make a few calls. Where are you now?”

“In Milan.
Why?”

“Gianna
is up that way,” Giovanni answered, snagging a pen and paper.  “What’s the
address? I’ll send her to you and we’ll meet up as soon as my plane lands in
Milan. We have a rescue to plan.”

“Thank
you, Gio.” Kate’s voice wobbled a little.

“I’m
not doing it for you,” Giovanni snapped. “I’m doing it for Dominic.”

“That’s
all I ask,” Kate
said,
her voice tight with emotion.

He
felt like an ass for snapping at her. Why the hell was he so
peckish
? Oh yeah, because a tiny blonde American spitfire
had come into his life, given him earth-shattering sex, then left him behind
like an empty toilet paper roll. He’d lived hundreds of years, slept with
hundreds of women. What the hell was it about that annoying little American
that had him moping like a lovesick puppy?

Giovanni
shook his head in an attempt to clear it of the Lindsey-induced haze. He had to
snap out of it. Dominic was in a whole shitload of trouble. The time had come to
show his little brother what he was really made of.

Chapter
20

Kate
paced the floor of her sitting room, certain she’d wear holes in the floor by
the time she was done. She couldn’t believe she was back in this place,
pretending like Dominic wasn’t alive and in danger. Yet they had a plan and she
would see it through, no matter how badly the waiting made her want to pull her
hair out.

Gianna
had been cold, but civil when she arrived at Massimo’s small loft late last
night. Kate had swallowed down her guilt and filled her sister-in-law in on
Dominic’s capture and containment, disregarding the disgusted grunts with which
Gia
punctuated her story. The daggers in the
she-wolf’s eyes made it more than clear she held Kate at fault for Dominic’s predicament.
Kate couldn’t help but agree. The pair of them awaited Giovanni’s arrival
together in tense silence, with Gianna trying to kill Kate with her eyes and
Kate trying to ignore her.

Gio
pulled up in the wee hours of the morning and the three of them devised a
rescue plan. To avoid raising suspicion, Kate would have to stay in the loft
through daylight and return to the castle with Massimo at nightfall. They would
stay near and await her first sunrise back on the compound. Once the sun
breached the horizon, while the other vampires slept, they would at last put
their plan into motion. Waiting was part of the deal. So wait she would.
Yeah
,
waiting sucked.

         
On a brighter note, since her return to the castle, Kate had yet to see
Alexander. He was blatantly absent when Massimo arrived with the motorcade to
fetch her at sundown. He was nowhere to be found on her arrival to the
compound.

         
She didn’t mind his absence, especially after all that transpired the night
before. She hoped Massimo had strung him up by his testicles for her
accusations. Or that the Grand Council banished him at least. Regardless, she
hoped he suffered long and hard for the crimes he’d committed, even if the
vampires punished him for ones which he wasn’t guilty of. He was guilty all the
same.

Should
she feel guilt, remorse, or even shame for wishing such, when in fact
she
had orchestrated the whole thing? Maybe… but she didn’t.
Oh
, guilt
boiled within her alright, spilling over like molten lava from an active
volcano, but not for betraying Alex.

Worry
over Dominic’s reaction to the fact she’d slept with his enemy was the force
shifting the tectonic plates in her gut until she feared she might burst from
the pressure.  Well, that and the knowledge that her husband was chained
to a cold, stone floor in the very same building, being subjected to the most
horrendous atrocities by said enemy as she sat powerless in her quarters.

         
Kate knew she should try to sleep away the wakeful night hours, but she also
knew any attempt would be futile. Even if it wasn’t the vampire equivalent of
daytime, she couldn’t sleep. Not now that she knew what was happening to
Dominic at that very moment. If she ever slept again, the visions from
Alexander’s mind would surely give her nightmares. The only way she would ever
sleep again would be when Dominic was safely in her arms.

         
Six more hours until sunrise.
She could survive six
more hours, right? But could he? How many ways could Alex hurt Dominic in six
hours? Pain cut through her heart like a machete. Unless Alexander used silver,
the possibilities were endless, one continuous carousel of torture. Dominic was
probably praying for death right at that moment.

Kate
knew she shouldn’t think like that, not if she wanted to make it six more hours
without charging into the dungeon all by
herself
. 
They had a plan. She needed to stick to it. They had one chance to save the man
she loved. The last thing she wanted to do was blow it.

Flopping
onto the Louis the XVI sofa, Kate rested her elbows on her knees and her chin
on her palms. With a huff, she glared at the antique grandfather clock ahead of
her, willing it to move faster. Yet the hands moved slower than polar ice caps
melting in the dead of winter, each second ticking slowly by like a freeze
frame moment of painful expectation.

Determined
to make time move faster than its current arctic pace, Kate counted off the
seconds as they passed…
one… two… three… four…

Twenty-one
thousand five-hundred and ninety-seven… twenty-one thousand five- hundred and
ninety-eight… twenty-one thousand five-hundred and ninety-nine…
  twenty
-one thousand six hundred.

It
was the longest six hours of her life, but it had to end eventually.

One
would never know it from inside the castle, for all the windows and even the
ceilings portrayed the hours of twilight, but the truth remained. The sun would
break over the eastern horizon any minute now.

With
sunrise, came their window of opportunity. The majority of the castle slept the
daylight hours away, trusting the watch kept by compelled human followers.
Though beyond exhausted, Kate couldn’t sleep. But she could wander the castle
completely unchecked. And she could compel humans to ignore her presence as she
crept through the halls.

The
last remnants of sunlight faded into starlight on her ceiling and windows. The
time had come at last. Her heart filled with nervous anticipation as Kate
peered out into the empty hallway beyond her room.
Silence.
Emptiness.
Good.
The castle was abed. With soft
footsteps, she set out to find the dungeon.

Massimo
had said it was tucked beneath the kitchen. Kate tried to recall where
Alexander had said the useless kitchen was during her tour of the castle, but
for the life of her, she couldn’t remember. She searched blindly for what
seemed like forever, certain she’d seen every part of the castle twice --
except for the kitchen. It was time to rethink her strategy.

Swallowing
her pride, Kate approached one of the human maids as the woman dusted an
antique suit of armor.  The woman dressed in the crisp black and white
livery of a traditional maid, gasped when she saw Kate and bobbed into a series
of frantic curtsies.

“Begging your pardon, mistress.
I didn’t see you there.” The maid
bit her lip and shuffled her feet in discomfort. “Um, I know it’s not my place,
but shouldn’t you be in bed?”

         
Kate gave the nervous woman a friendly smile. “I couldn’t sleep. What’s your
name?”

         
“Margaret, mistress.”
The woman watched her through
wide, frightened eyes. The duster in her hand trembled with fear. Clearly,
Margaret knew who and what Kate was, but was imprisoned by compulsion.

         
“I’m not going to hurt you, Margaret,” Kate reassured her, saddened by the
woman’s fear of her. “I need your help.”

         
Nervous distrust evident in the lines of her round face, Margaret bobbed and
nodded her agreement.
“Anything, mistress.
You need
only ask and it is yours.”

         
“Would you be willing to show me to the kitchen?” Kate asked suppressing a
smile at the ease with which her luck had turned. Margaret could very well lead
her straight to Dominic.

         
“Yes, mistress.
But I’m afraid there’s not much to
see,” the woman warned.

         
Kate smiled in reassurance. “I’m sure it will be more than enough.”

         
“Very well, mistress. Follow me,” Margaret bobbed another curtsy and picked up
the skirts of her maid’s uniform.

With
waddling steps, the portly woman led Kate down the hallway and through the door
on the left. Kate trailed behind her, ignoring the encroaching exhaustion and
the ever-present thirst heightened by the presence of fresh blood.

She
couldn’t save Dominic if she ate the help. Neither could she look herself in
the eye in the mirror the next night if she killed an innocent woman. She
already had enough trouble looking herself in the eye as it was, no sense
adding to it.

With
Margaret as her guide, Kate weaved through a series of winding corridors and
arched stone doorways. When at last the woman skidded to a halt in front of a
massive wooden door, she glanced back and forth between Kate and the door,
wringing her hands nervously in her skirts.

“The
kitchen is through this door. Would that be all you require of me, mistress?”

Kate
nodded. “Yes, thank you, Margaret.” Holding the woman’s gaze, Kate concentrated
on the woman’s mind to manipulate it. “Tell no one of this. Forget you saw me,”
Kate ordered, compelling the woman with the power of her words.

“Yes,
mistress,” Margaret agreed absently.

She
bobbed another curtsy in Kate’s direction and scurried back down the hallway as
fast as her legs could carry her. Kate could smell the stench of her relief
from where she stood.

The
maid’s belief that she was a monster saddened Kate. She had no desire to hurt
anyone. Well, except for maybe Alexander, but he deserved it.

Shouldering
open the heavy wooden door, Kate pressed into the quiet of the kitchen. Only
utilized for party preparations involving food for the local humans, the
kitchen had already begun to collect dust since its closure following the
Winter Ball. Kate stepped into the musty room and glanced around the dark,
windowless room. Unlike all the other rooms in the castle, the kitchen’s
ceiling did not mirror the night’s sky. Only humans used the room, during
daylight hours, whilst the vampire staff slept.

Rubbing
her palm along the wall, Kate blindly searched by
feel
for the light switch. Flipping on the lights, Kate glanced around. It looked
like an ordinary, albeit, elaborate kitchen.
State of the
art, commercial-grade appliances throughout.
Clean floors and counters.
High stone ceilings with recessed lighting.
It was a kitchen
to make Mama Murdock proud.

Kate
tiptoed through the room, scanning her surroundings for anything that might
possibly resemble the entrance to a dungeon. The first door she opened revealed
a huge buttery, a massive pantry chock full of enough food to feed all of Italy
in the event of a crisis.
A strange thing to find in a castle
full of vampires who don’t eat.
Kate ventured a guess that it was a
power play by Gustavo. If times ever got hard, he who controlled the most
resources held the most power.

Kate
closed the pantry door and continued on her search. The next door yielded a
small utility closet, complete with a water heater and janitorial supplies.
Kate frowned in disappointment and began to pull the door shut, but something
caught her eye. A tightly woven black rug sat in the middle of the small room.
An odd place to put a rug.
  The uneven lumps beneath
the rug alone were cause for suspicion.

With
a frown, Kate stepped into the closet and pealed the heavy rug aside. Sure
enough, beneath the carpet hid a trap door, its wood warped with age and wear.
Bracing her weight on either side of the door, Kate grasped the metal handle
and pulled with all her might. The wood groaned as she wrenched the trap door
open.

The
stench of decay and stagnant air travelled up from the pit below. A rudimentary
ladder, lashed together with sticks and ties dropped into the endless black
abyss below. With a deep breath and a prayer for strength, bravery, and a
ladder that wouldn’t crumble beneath her weight, Kate slowly descended into the
hole.
Foot, hand, foot, hand, foot, hand.
She lowered
herself down into the blackness of the hole, wondering if she’d ever see the
light of day again.
Or at least the vampire’s version of
simulated sunshine on the ceiling.

Trying
not to think about rats and spiders and heaven-only-knew what else, Kate pushed
forward for Dominic’s sake. For him, she’d lay in a whole box of bugs and
snakes. The subterranean air of the dungeon was cool and inviting, but the
smell left much to be desired. Down, down, down she went, relieved when at last
her feet touched down on solid ground.

The
dungeon was cool and still.
Too still.
Kate strained
her ears, listening for any evidence of life out in the empty silence.
The faint, rhythmic sound of dripping moisture off to the far
right.
Drip, drip, drip.
From a
similar direction, the soft sound of even breathing as someone slept.

There
. Off to the left, Kate heard
the ragged gasps of a man in pain. Surely, that was Dominic. But who was the
other, sleeping across the way? It had to be Alex, standing guard over his
favorite toy in fear of losing his chance to torture Dominic again. Maybe Kate
could kill him in his sleep.
After she freed Dominic, of
course.

Following
her ears, Kate crept through the darkness in the direction of the pained man.
Though soft and cautious, her footfalls were the only sound in the empty stone
corridor. With each door she passed, Kate peered inside, partially out of
curiosity, but mostly in search of Dominic. The rooms she passed were intended
for unspeakable purposes, filled with medieval devices designed to torture even
the strongest man into submission.