Darkest Caress (19 page)

Whoever had taken her must be connected to Daegan somehow. There was no other explanation. He must have been suspicious she was under some sort of threat, or he never would have had the alarm system installed. Why had he left her unprotected if he’d thought she might be in danger? The kidnapper was evil incarnate.

She shivered as she recalled the inky black aura surrounding him. All she remembered after that was the fear and that hideous burst of pain before her body whacked out on her and locked her into a series of hard convulsions. She hoped she never had to confront him again, because she wasn’t sure she could withstand that kind of agony a second time.

Think, Liv. You have to find a way out. You have to.

But there wasn’t one. Whoever had taken her must be on the other side of that door, so she couldn’t go that way. The only other exit was the plastic-covered window high up on the wall behind her, and she’d never be able to get out that, even if all her limbs were free. She could move her feet and legs a bit, but the chair she was strapped to was tall. Her struggles to reach the ground with her toes only allowed her to inch the chair backward.

Cringing every time the chair scraped over the concrete, she slowly edged it back toward the far wall. Maybe there’d be a tool or something sharp she could find to cut the tape away from her hands.

Eyes on the door, Liv struggled to get the chair across the floor to the back wall. When it bumped into lumber, she swiveled her head to check for tools. A nail, a sharp edge, something. But she couldn’t find anything. A sense of claustrophobia closed in on her, pressing in from all sides until she flailed in her seat, yanking uselessly against her bonds. The tape on her ankles gave slightly, allowing her to slide her legs up a bit.

The door flew open and four rough-looking men strode in. She froze. They all wore black leather vests over their thick chests, and each of them had dark orange or red auras, edged in black. Violent, dangerous men. Liv winced as a fresh wave of pain hit her, but it was nothing compared to when the kidnapper had taken her. When one of them turned slightly to shut the door, she caught a glimpse of devil’s horns on his back. Her stomach dropped like a stone. She’d been abducted by a gang? This didn’t make any sense. They couldn’t be connected to Daegan, so why had they randomly targeted her?

Her heart fluttered like a trapped bird’s wings as she stared at them, bracing for whatever they were about to do to her.

The tallest one stood in the doorway with a smirk on his bearded face as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the jamb. His dark eyes bored into hers but she was too afraid to look away. “Boo,” he taunted.

The others laughed.

She shrank back in her chair but got nowhere. The hard, unyielding wood of the backrest dug into her spine. Her breaths were rapid and shallow, sounding loud in the quiet room. When the shortest of the men came forward every muscle in her body stiffened in protest, but she couldn’t move away. All she could do was draw up her legs a tiny bit as he approached, gathering her strength. She waited until he was within range before lashing out with both feet.

He jumped back with a grunt and caught her legs, but not before she made solid contact to his shins. His grip on her legs turned cruel, fingers biting deep into her muscle while she tried to jerk free. Then in a move too fast for her to counter, he trapped her legs between his knees and squeezed, hard. Liv let out a growl of outrage, twisting as hard as she could, but she couldn’t free her legs.

His smile turned mean in his goateed face. “I thought you’d be more powerful than this. I’m almost disappointed.”

She shrank back as much as the chair would allow, beginning to tremble. All she could do was turn her head away in a feeble attempt at escape when he reached for her.

His strong hand wound around her jaw, forced her head around. She refused to meet his eyes, staring at the darkened floor while her stomach shriveled.

“Glad to see you’re finally awake though,” he said, grasping the edge of the tape.

Liv didn’t have time to brace before he ripped it off, making it feel like he’d taken her skin with it. She gasped at the sharp sting on her cut lower lip and shut her eyes, trying not to let them see how deeply afraid she was. Something told her they would only feed off it.

The man leaned in closer, placing his hands beside hers on the armrests. Caging her in. She flinched, took deep breaths to combat the violent headache. “So you’re the one.”

The one? What the hell did he mean by that?

From the corner of her eye she saw the other two coming closer.

“Not very friendly, are you?” the man pinning her said, lifting a hand to trail a finger over her jaw. She swallowed, hating the betraying quiver of fear that ripped through her. “Don’t feel like talking, huh? That’s going to be real inconvenient for you, but pretty soon I think you’ll change your mind.”

Get away from me, you sick bastard
, she wanted to scream but choked the words back. She refused to give them the satisfaction of breaking her.

“Give me her phone.”

Liv shot a sideways glance at the others.

The man eased away a bit to accept the phone the tall one handed him, then turned back to her. “We need you to make a call. You gonna make this easy on yourself, or do we have to get nasty with you? Choice is yours.”

She licked her dry lips, but before she could answer the discomfort in her head suddenly increased tenfold. She hissed in a breath, gritting her teeth as the vise tightened around her skull.
Please no, not again…
Beads of sweat dotted her upper lip as her gaze strayed fearfully to the doorway.

The quiet footsteps came closer, closer, almost to the door

A second later another man appeared there, his aura black as the inside of a grave. Liv jerked, the pain in her skull exploding in a fiery burst. She cried out and shut her eyes, trying to block it out. It didn’t help. Her stomach pitched sickeningly, sending a hot rush of bile up her throat. She fought it back, forcing unsteady breaths through her clenched teeth.

The man was quiet for a moment. She could almost feel his merciless gaze raking over her. Then to her surprise, his steps retreated. The agony decreased, slowly, just enough for her to open her eyes to slits. Through the blur of tears she found him watching her. He stood well back from her down the dimly lit hallway, arms crossed over his chest while he regarded her, that chilling band of onyx writhing around him like an electrical charge. The pale light from the naked bulb overhead illuminated his harsh features. He raised one eyebrow, those mercurial eyes boring into her. “Better?”

She wasn’t about to answer him. She just prayed he stayed where he was before she went into convulsions again.

“Do you know who I am?” His voice was deep, commanding.

“No,” she rasped, struggling to clear her mind through the fog of pain.

“Do you know
what
I am?”

Yes, she knew. Shivers rolled through her, uncontrollable and sharp. “Evil.”

He laughed, a frightening sound as dark as his aura. “That’s right. Know why I’ve brought you here?”

She managed a tight shake of her head, half afraid to look at him in case it made the pain worse. Was it his proximity that affected the intensity, or making eye contact with him?

“I think you do. Just like I think I cause you pain when I get too close. Am I right?” He took an ominous pace forward.

Her vision was blurred. It was all she could do to keep from screaming.

He eased back. “You see something about me that others can’t. What is it?” His tone was hard, but curious.

Clenching her jaw, Liv forced herself to answer him. “Black.”
As dark as your heart.

The others drew in a collective breath as they stared at her.

“And what about them?” he demanded, nodding at the others.

She wanted to throw up. The suffering engulfed her, shooting down her spinal column until her hands and feet went numb. “Red. Orange. Some black.”

“Interesting. I’m sure he finds that talent very useful.”

At some unseen signal, the man pinning her suddenly grabbed hold of her right wrist and yanked at the tape. Liv made a sound of protest, tugging uselessly against his grip as he unwound it, tearing the sticky surface off her sensitized skin.

“Call him,” the man in the hall commanded.

She blinked, dared meet his eyes. The muscles in her neck felt tight enough to snap. “W-who?”

His mouth twisted in a sardonic smile while he stared at her. Holding her gaze, he took two quick, deliberate steps forward.

Liv cried out and twisted away, desperate to escape the hideous pain. “Stop,” she begged in a whisper, ready to shatter. After a few seconds, the terrible sensation eased somewhat. When she gathered the nerve to open her tear-filled eyes and look at him again, he’d retreated back to his original position.

His stare was cold enough to burn. “The Coven Leader. Call him to you.”

She started to shake her head but the man next to her grabbed her rigid hand and forced her cell phone into it. Her heart slammed in her chest. They wanted Daegan. But if she called him and he somehow found her, they’d kill him. She knew it in the deepest part of her being.

“Call him to you and we’ll let you go. You can go back to your life and put all this behind you. If not…” He let his voice trail off, the unspoken threat speaking for itself. “I’ve got things to do,” he said to his men. “When she calls him, you know how to reach me. Oh, and I should mention that Olivia teaches piano.” With a final hard look at her, he turned on his heel and walked away.

His parting words filled her with dread but she sagged in her seat, let out a deep breath when he left, taking the worst of the pain with him. She pulled in a few deep, blessed lungfuls of air, allowed her exhausted eyes to close for a moment. But her relief was short-lived.

A third man in the room walked up with something shiny in his hand. The faint light coming from the hallway glinted on it. A knife? Her fingers clenched around her phone, heavy as lead in her icy cold palm. The short man kept her legs trapped between his knees, squeezing his hand around hers until the edges of the phone dug into her skin. She swallowed a cry of fear, glancing between the two men while her heart raced frantically.

“You like to play the piano, Olivia?” the tall one asked. When he raised his hand she saw the sharp blades of the scissors in his hand. Heavy duty shears, the kind people used in the kitchen to cut through chicken bones.

The blood drained out of her face, a scream building in her lungs. Her captor resisted her futile struggles with heartbreaking ease while the tall man grasped her left index finger.

“No!” she yelled, trying to twist away and curl her fingers into her palm. But he was too strong for her.

He gripped her finger and twisted it up sharply, ignoring her cry of terror and pain. The blades of the scissors made an ominous snipping sound as he opened and closed them. “Call him now, before I lose my patience and start cutting off those pretty fingers one joint at a time.”

Hands buried in his hair, Daegan sat on the bottom step near the equipment room, fighting to hold onto his sanity. With his eyes squeezed shut, he focused solely on breathing in and out. His breaths were jerky and shallow, every muscle trembling in an agony of suspense. He didn’t give a damn that Vaughn watched him silently from the doorway. All he knew was he’d lost contact with Liv seventeen minutes ago and each passing second crawled by with excruciating slowness. She’d been afraid, and he was certain she’d been in pain too. The inability to do anything devastated him.

Despite his attempts to concentrate on the blank screen he’d erected in his mind, something began to seep into his subconscious.

His head snapped up, eyes flying open. There. He’d felt it again. An awareness. Of dread. And growing fear.

He leaped to his feet and grabbed his loaded M-4, the surge of hope painful in his chest. “
Liv
.” Her name tore out of him like a prayer. The knowledge that she was still alive made his eyes sting. He honed his focus on the fragile link he held with his mate.

“Where is she?”

Vaughn’s rough voice barely registered through the haze of emotion but Daegan gave a sharp shake of his head. He wasn’t getting anything concrete, but he had a faint impression of darkness. Of trees. Somewhere rural? She couldn’t have gone very far in such a short time. Was she on the outskirts of town? Dammit, he couldn’t pinpoint the location.

Pushing out a frustrated growl, he shook his head and cleared his mind. Christ. Maybe he was thinking too hard. Maybe he had to let his subconscious do the work for him. Shutting out the static in his head caused by their bond was nearly impossible, but he had to find a way.

Calling an image of her to mind, he held onto it, recalling every last detail about her. The shape of her face, the different shades of green in her eyes. The texture of her skin and the feel of her body wrapped around his. A fierce, protective longing filled him, mixed with fear and despair. Replacing it.

Slowly, everything else faded away until she was absolutely clear in his mind. He could see her, smell her. Almost touch her. Warmth spread throughout his body, long forgotten little tingles that began in his fingertips and traveled up his arms, his torso.

It’s working.
The rush of relief was so sharp it brought a lump to his throat.
Hang on, Liv, just a little longer. I’m coming.

It had been nearly a decade since he’d last attempted this, but it was his best and fastest shot at getting to Liv. The tingling in his fingers spread up his arms to his face, down his chest and torso, encompassing his legs. When he dared open his eyes he saw his body was beginning to fade, shimmering around the edges.

“Don’t!”

He closed his eyes again to block out the sound of Vaughn’s angry voice, holding that image of Liv. He had to do this now, before it was too late. Couldn’t risk losing the connection.

“
Stop
.”

“Can’t,” he snapped, willing his body to fade. “Only way.”

“You’ll be too weak to help her.”

He shook his head, a tight, angry movement of denial. It didn’t matter if he was too weak to do anything when he materialized on the other side. At least he’d know where she was and be able to get help if he needed it. Then he’d do whatever it took to save her, even if he had to crawl every inch of the way to her side.

Vaughn’s frustrated sigh was full of resignation. “You call me the
second
you get there so I can follow you. A suicide mission isn’t going to save her.”

Nodding once without opening his eyes, Daegan embraced the energy flowing through his veins and let his body to fade into nothingness. This was the easy part. Coming out on the other end was going to hurt like a bitch.

The world went black around him, his body sucked through space like an invisible hand pulled him. Each passing second Liv’s emotions grew stronger in his mind, so he knew he was going in the right direction.

When the tingling sensation suddenly increased to a burning, like hellish pins and needles pricking him all over, he knew he was close. A few moments later he suddenly materialized at the edge of a road. As his body solidified once again, he fell to his hands and knees while the world spun around him. His skin burned like he’d been dropped into a pool of acid. He bit back a scream. When he tried to get to his feet he all but collapsed.

Jesus. He’d expected to be weakened, but not like this. He could barely hold his head up while he dragged himself to the sandy shoulder and tried to figure out where he was.

It took a moment to get his bearings, but soon enough he recognized the quiet stretch of road along the bluff. Why here? There were no houses nearby, no evidence of Liv. Looking around, he finally spotted the skid marks on the asphalt, veering sharply off the road toward the trees on the downward slope.

Oh, God.

His arms trembled with the effort of pushing his body upright as he slung the rifle around to his back. It felt ten times as heavy as it really was. The Kevlar plates in his vest seemed like they were made of concrete.

Move!

Gritting his teeth, Daegan struggled to his feet, stood there weaving for a moment. The tire tracks seemed to shift and blur as he forced his feet to walk toward them. From what he could tell they’d been made by small, wide tires, the kind found on sports cars. His Porsche had them. So did Liv’s BMW.

He followed them down the rise, his heart beating faster with each passing second. When he caught sight of the wreck of Liv’s car, he stopped breathing.

“Liv!” Her name was torn out of him. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Pushing his legs to their limit, he slipped then fell, crashing down to the loamy ground. He lunged upward, racing for the car. She might still be inside it, too badly hurt to respond. “Liv.” No answer.

Reaching it, he approached the open passenger side door. She wasn’t in the seat or on the floor. The deployed air bag was deflated, and there was no blood on it that he could see. Had she tried to go for help? He pulled out his flashlight and spun in a circle, looking for clues. When his eyes landed on the smudged footprints in the dirt, his stomach pitched. Bile rose up his throat but he fought it down, fishing out his cell with an unsteady hand.

“Someone’s taken her,” he said when Vaughn picked up.

“How many?”

“One. A man.” He could tell by the size of the print. A dead man walking, if he’d done anything but help her after the crash. Daegan knew in his gut the man hadn’t. “Have you got my location yet?”

“Almost.”

Daegan gritted his teeth. “How much longer?”

“Few seconds.”

Each one dragged past until he thought he’d shatter the phone in his fist, then Vaughn spoke again. “Got you. On my way.”

“Alert Cade.” He didn’t have a clear vision of what would happen, but he had a bad feeling they were going to need all the backup they could find.

Less than a minute later Vaughn suddenly appeared a few yards away from Liv’s car, armed to the teeth and shouldering a full rucksack of weapons. He strode toward Daegan with a strong, confident gait, completely unaffected by his journey. Not for the first time, Daegan envied his ability to dematerialize so effortlessly.

“Cade’s en route with some gear, twenty minutes out.”

Way too long to wait. They’d have to go in without him. “Ready?”

“You look like hell,” the Reaper announced with a frown. He glanced at the prints on the ground, then back at him. The frown deepened. “Maybe you should wait here for Cade and I’ll follow them.”

“Fuck that,” he spat. He’d already left her safety in someone else’s hands one time too many. Though he trusted Vaughn with his life, he was going after Liv himself. “Let’s move.”

Every step was an effort, but he struggled forward, eyes pinned to the two sets of prints on the needle-covered ground.

A vivid blast of her fear swept through him, stealing his breath. “Shit.” He went down on one knee, wiping the sweat off his upper lip with his sleeve. “She’s terrified,” he told Vaughn in a low voice when the Reaper looked at him in concern. He was attempting to climb to his feet again when his phone rang. The number in the call display made him suck in his breath. “Liv?” he rasped into it, almost afraid to hope.

“Daegan—” Her voice broke on a choked sound.

He sagged in relief. She was still alive. “Are you all right?”

“I…” Her ragged sob twisted inside him like a knife.

His skin prickled. “What?” he demanded.

“They’ve tied me up.”

Oh, fuck. More than one. Had to be Dark Army members. He couldn’t stop the images from forming in his mind. Liv bound and helpless, facing evil beings straight out of a horror movie.

“They’re going to…”

Going to what?
he wanted to yell, frantic for more information. Whatever it was, he knew it would be slow and painful while they tried to extract his location from her. He fought to keep his voice calm, level. She was scared enough without adding to it. “Where are you?”

“I—I don’t know. An unfinished house I think, but I d-don’t know where. I can’t tell anything else,” she whispered brokenly. The stark fear in her voice ate at him.

“Liv, I’m coming. It’s going to be okay.” She was somewhere close by. He’d find her. His link with her was stronger than he’d initially thought. He’d use it to get her free.

“No, don’t! You can’t.”

The hell he couldn’t. All he had to do was follow his instincts and they would lead him to her.

“Listen to me,” she continued, a frantic edge to her voice, “it’s a trap. They’re waiting for you, please don’t—” A hair-raising scream ripped through the line.

His heart went berserk. “Liv!” Daegan’s blood chilled when she didn’t answer. He heard the sound of the phone hitting the floor on the other end. Then her raw, guttural cries of fear that tore him to pieces.

A choked sound. “No! Don’t!
Don’t
!” she cried out. Another anguished scream, then the sound of flesh striking flesh. Liv’s whimper of pain made him sick to his stomach. Low male laughter drifted over the line.

Icy cold rage swept through him. Those bastards in the room with her were breathing their last. When he found them he’d tear them apart. But before he could do or say anything else the line went eerily, completely dead.

Shoving his phone into his pocket, he gripped his rifle tight in his hands then lunged to his feet. His thigh muscles trembled under the strain but he didn’t care.

“Wait.”

He whirled at Vaughn’s protest, opened his mouth to snarl at him, but the Reaper merely handed him a pair of wraparound shades.

“Cover your eyes. They’re like spotlights.”

He’d been too worked up to even notice the change. Daegan’s hand shook as he slid them on. The glare reflecting on the insides of the lenses all but blinded him.

When he looked up, Vaughn’s expression remained grim. “If you don’t figure out a way to dim them and get control of yourself, we’re fucked. They’ll see you coming a hundred yards out, easy.”

He didn’t care as long as he got Liv out safely. They could do whatever they wanted to him after that. “Stay well back from me then.”

“Screw that. You die, we will too.”

“Isn’t that what you’ve wanted all along?” he shot back, the primal side of him warring with the trained soldier he’d been all his life.

Vaughn’s mouth thinned but he didn’t respond. It was an asshole thing to say, but Daegan was too lit to take it back. Together, the three of them were a lethal force, but Cade wasn’t with them now. He didn’t need to explain to Vaughn how dangerous this mission was, though when it came to infiltrating enemy lines, Vaughn was one of the best he’d ever seen. Whatever booby traps or other nasty surprises awaited ahead, Daegan knew the other warrior could handle it.

Staying in the shadows, he moved silently along the trail on wobbly legs with Vaughn at his back, hugging the edge of the trees. The prints changed a few dozen yards up the slope. Liv’s marks disappeared, but the man’s changed direction and continued parallel to the bank, cutting through the forest far enough away from the road that no one would have seen him carrying her.

Their slow progress was torture, but checking for trip wires or IEDs was a necessary evil. Even at the sluggish pace, walking the uneven terrain sapped more of his strength. The prints grew fainter and fainter on the trail as the trees thinned out, giving way to newly seeded grass. The kidnapper’s bootprints became more visible there, making it easy to follow them through the vacant lots dotting the bluff. He and Vaughn moved like ghosts across the five connecting vacant properties until they reached the first unfinished house.

Daegan stopped with his back pressed against a tall cedar trunk to assess the area. The damn weakness stealing through his body made his thighs tremble.

“That one?” Vaughn whispered over the radio piece in his ear, somewhere behind him in the darkness.

Daegan couldn’t see him, but he knew without a doubt Vaughn was in position, covering his back. If something went wrong and he was killed before he got Liv out, Vaughn and Cade would get her to safety. “No.” The link with Liv was still strong, but it didn’t give him a clear indication of how close she was.

Her fear kept pushing at the edge of his mind no matter how hard he tried to block it. It fueled the rage, helping him override the weakness, but his eyes were still too bright. “Tracks are gone. We’ll have to check each one individually,” he answered quietly, careful that his voice didn’t carry. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do about his hellishly glowing eyes.

“Copy that.”

He eyed the skeletal wooden frames uneasily, wondering if someone had them in their sights already. Perfect place to set up an ambush or hide a remote controlled bomb. Each structure they checked would burn up precious time they didn’t have.

No choice.

From his position he studied the edge of forest farther up the bank, toward the road. Another ideal spot for a sniper or spotter to hide. No telling how many men they were up against or how many were waiting for them somewhere in the dark. The amber-embedded rounds he and Vaughn carried would stop a mortal just as well as they would a DA member. They just had to hope the Obsidian Lord wasn’t here with them.