The Vampire Diaries: A Cage of Burning Light (Kindle Worlds Novella) (7 page)

There was
a spark of greed there. “I’m very rich. I’m sure I can. Name a figure.”

“No,” Wilson interjected. “You
know what Jennings
will do if you cross him.”

“Screw Jennings,” the second man
retorted, but he sounded uncertain.

“Money,”
Damon said. “All the money you want. All you could ever want.”

They’d
stopped moving, the chair dropping back onto all four legs with a jarring thud.
Damon felt a thrill of hope fill him. He couldn’t compel with so much vervain
in his bloodstream, but there were so many other ways to win someone over.

“Anything
you want,” he purred. “All of it.”

“Anything?”
the man asked. “Would you give me all your money?”

“Sure,”
Damon agreed. “It’s no use to me when I’m tied to a chair and half the fun’s in
earning it anyway.”

“Don’t be
an idiot,” Wilson
snapped. “The second you untie him, he’ll gut you like a fish. How long have
you worked for Jennings
that you don’t know that vamps can’t be trusted?”

“Hey,
he’ll give us the money.”

“No!
You’re a fool! You can’t trust monsters. He won’t give you a dime unless you
untie him, and even a weakened vampire is dangerous. I’m not losing him because
you’re greedy.”

“You just
let me worry about Jennings.
He and I go way back.”

“Oh
really, you think I believe that? Let’s prove it, I’ll call him right now,
watch me!” Damon heard him dialing. “He’ll hunt you down for your head!”

“Oh, you
idiot, put that away. Damn it, he was buying it. He would have paid us both
out, and I would have given him to Jennings
afterwards anyway. You just cost me my bonus, you ass.”

Damon
sagged in disappointment as Wilson
stammered something that sounded like a confused apology. A moment later, they
both resumed dragging him out of the warehouse. It would have been nice to just
be able to pay his way out of this.

Still, he
was getting a good idea from all of this as to just what sort of person the
missing Jennings
was. Obviously unscrupulous, rich, and corrupt. A man who controlled his people
with money or fear.

That sort
of person
could
be negotiated with,
and Damon would happily hand over a half dozen or so of his least favorite
vampires in order to buy his own freedom back. It might even turn out to be a
tidy way to get rid of a few enemies.

Then they
were outside. The sun couldn’t touch him, but he still sensed it when they
dragged him out from underneath a roof. Without his ring, the light that warmed
the canvas covering him felt wrong, and his muscles involuntarily tightened at
just the thought of what it could do to him. He’d been burned before, and it
was one experience he never wanted to go through again.

He’d wait
and talk to this Jennings
person. At some point, Damon knew, he’d show up to view his new acquisition.
That’s just how his sort was. They needed to see what they’d conquered, to
count coup on it, especially when the danger was faced by someone else. Damon
would talk his way out of this then, which made these two useless to him except
as transport.

He didn’t
talk to them again as they dragged him across the parking lot to whatever
vehicle it was that Greedy brought. Given they dragged him up a ramp, he
suspected it was some sort of cube truck. They hauled him in and set him
against the back wall before heading back down the ramp, Wilson coercing Greedy into helping him carry
the rest of his equipment.

Damon
resumed working on his bonds once they were gone. The effects of the vervain
were starting to fade, leaving him still weak but getting stronger. Maybe in an
hour or so he’d be able to break his chains. Perhaps not. He’d keep his plan of
negotiating with Jennings,
but it would certainly work more in his favor if he wasn’t chained when they
pulled this canvas tarp off of him.

He heard the two men come back, carrying the last
of the boxes, and took in a deep breath, smelling the must of the canvas, the
rubber and metal of the truck, the dust of the parking lot, and the blood. He
could always smell the blood, and along with the thick, rich scent of Wilson and Greedy,
whatever his actual name was, he could smell his sweet Elena and her witchy
little friend.

He tensed
at that, struggling against his bonds with force again. No matter how much
danger he might actually be in, Elena should never have come after him. These
two weren’t witches, werewolves, or vampires, but the status of being human
didn’t make them harmless, and unlike the two women they were both killers.

“Hey, cut
it out.” Something hard and blunt slammed into the side of his head and Damon
reeled while he heard Wilson
snapping at Greedy to hurry up down the ramp while the truck’s engine started
up.

They had
a good lead, Damon assured himself. They’d be out of this place before Elena
got here and realized that he was being moved. He hoped.

He really
hoped, given he was almost positive that Greedy clipped him across the head
with the butt of a pistol.

Elena
grew increasingly anxious as Bonnie drove them back to the warehouse complex.
There were “For Sale” signs on the outer front fence, showing just how Wilson managed to set up
his torture chamber without anyone noticing it.

There
were half a dozen buildings in total, all of them low and squat, abandoned when
the economy collapsed by whatever venture capitalist put them up for sale.
Weeds were growing up beside the buildings, and she recognized the road she’d
taken to get away from the ugly green square where she’d been held prisoner. It
was late afternoon now, and it looked ominous between her memories and the
growing shadows. She stared at it, her hands clenched together underneath her
breasts.

“He must
be in there,” she whispered, and had no idea how they were going to get him
out.

“Maybe.
Look.” Bonnie drew her car to a stop and pointed forward through the
windshield.

Elena
looked. The buildings were arranged around a central road that passed through
them, an outer fence surrounding all. The road they’d taken didn’t end at the
complex, but passed through a second gate on the opposite side from the first
and began to wind up through the wooded hills. A white cube truck was on the
road beyond the fence, about to pass out of sight amongst the trees.

Bonnie
looked at her, her eyebrows drawn together and her hands tight on the steering
wheel. “You think that’s them?”

Elena
didn’t know what to say. Maybe. Damon might be in the building right now, tied
up in the same room she had been. Or he could be in that truck, and if it got
away, she’d never be able to find him.

Damon
would have been able to tell. All he’d have to do was lift his nose to the wind
and he’d have been able to say exactly who was in the warehouse and who in the
truck. She didn’t have that kind of sensitivity. Her sense of smell was
increased, certainly, but that didn’t mean she knew how to use it. None of the
smells she picked up meant anything to her.

She could
only think of one thing to do and so looked at her friend. “Get out.”

Bonnie blinked
at her. “Excuse me?”

Elena
reached for the wheel and started shouldering the witch out of the car. “Get
out. Call Caroline and when she gets here, look for Damon in that warehouse.
I’m going after that truck.”

“What?
I’m not letting you go after it alone!”

“We don’t
have time!” Elena reached across her and opened the door. “Bonnie, please. Just
do as I say!”

Bonnie
glared, but she got out of the car. “Fine. But we’re going to have a long talk
about this later.”

Elena
nodded but didn’t say anything as she slammed the door shut and stomped on the
gas. Bonnie’s car leaped forward, racing along the road after the truck. She
sped through the complex, out the back gate, and then she was in among the
trees, deep in shadow but able to see through the darkness as if it were the
height of day.

She had
absolutely no idea how she was going to stop that truck. It was twice the size
of Bonnie’s car, and she doubted they’d just pull over if she honked at them,
not unless they actually were innocent people that only happened to be driving
by.

She
didn’t know if she wanted that to turn out to be true, since it would mean that
she’d left Bonnie behind to face danger alone.

No, she
wouldn’t be alone. Bonnie was a powerful witch, and she’d call Caroline for
help. They’d take care of each other. Bonnie would be safe.

“Please
let her be safe,” she whispered as she sent the car around a turn as fast as
she dared. It was a very windy route through these hills, and the road itself
wasn’t much wider than needed to let two cars pass each other. She was fairly
certain of where she was now, and if she was right, then the road would cross
the top of the hills, and at the base on the other side it would join one of
the main thoroughfares that crossed the valley and the river. Beyond that was
the exit to the main highway and the local airfield.

If they
reached the highway, she didn’t think she’d be able to stop them.

She let
that thought fight her fear as the sedan she was driving raced around another
corner and then the cube truck was right ahead of her, chugging its way up the
hill with the fading afternoon sunlight dappling through the forest leaves and
onto its dirty white sides.

Elena
didn’t let herself think and just pushed on the gas, forcing the sedan up and
beside the truck as it reached the top of that hill and a short straightaway
before it started on the next. She started hammering on the horn before she was
even fully beside them and leaned over in the driver’s seat to try and see
through the passenger window who was driving the truck.

He was no
one she recognized, stocky and dark with an angry expression on his face as he
rolled down his side window and shouted at her.

“What the
hell’s wrong with you, you crazy bi-”

“Stop!”
Elena shouted at him. “You have to stop!” If he’d had nothing to do with it,
maybe he saw something, and asking him at least one question would make her
feel less of a total idiot if she turned out to be wrong about all of this.

“Are you
crazy, lady?” the man shouted, but the truck did begin to slow down.

A moment
later, Wilson
leaned over from the passenger side of the truck, and he and Elena saw each
other at the same time. She yanked back into her seat with a gasp of surprised
fright, but her hearing could still make out what he said to his partner.

“Drive
faster, She’s a vampire!”

“Oh, for
the love of….” The van put on as much of a burst of acceleration as it
could manage and swerved into the middle of the road. Elena was left behind it,
and with a deep breath, she put the gas pedal to the floor in pursuit.

Bonnie
cursed until Elena and her car were out of sight. Crazy stupid…. If Elena
got hurt, she’d never forgive herself. She better just be chasing after some
normal little delivery truck. She hoped she was. She’d tease her endlessly if she
was.

Bonnie
eyed the somber expanse of the green warehouse. If she was, then there was
someone really unpleasant inside that building. She pulled out her phone.

Five
minutes later, Caroline pulled up and stepped out of her car, her blonde hair
tossed back over her shoulder as she eyed her friend.

“So this
is the place where Elena’s been stuck?”

“Damon
now,” Bonnie told her. “Elena got free a while ago.”

“What?
You could have told me!”

Bonnie
winced. “Sorry, Care. It’s been a rotten day. So much is happening…. I’m
sorry. I should have called you a lot sooner.”

Caroline
frowned and then obviously forgave her. “So tell me what’s going on.”

Bonnie
did. She told her Elena’s story about what happened after she was kidnapped,
about Wilson
and his experiments, and how she escaped to be picked up by Bonnie, only for
them both to realize that Damon was now a prisoner in her place.