The other voice crept back in, and something sharp pricked her chest. It was all she could do not to scream. “Sleep now, my pretty,” Ellis said above her lips, his breath reeking of onions and evil. “But not too long. I’ve waited too long for this game to begin.”
She waited until the door closed and his steps faded, and then she waited a few seconds more. She opened one eye, then the other, letting out her breath in a soft sob. He wouldn’t believe she was sleeping for much longer, and then he would come back and kill her. The cut on her chest was proof of that.
She pulled again, working at the ropes until her wrists burned. She’d always been good with ropes. The MacBains spent hours teaching her all about knots, how to tie them, how to get out of them. She felt one give. Turning her head, she saw the scalpel on the table. If she could reach it. She worked at the ropes again, her wrist raw, and gritted her teeth when blood trickled down her arm. The minutes passed like hours before she loosened one rope enough to get her arm free. She strained to reach the scalpel. Her fingers touched the tip. Not enough. A little farther. She stretched until her bones felt like they would pop. She had it.
She attacked the ropes on her other wrist, cutting herself in her haste, sat up, and freed her feet.
She removed the gag and stood. Her body ached, her head throbbed, and blood ran from both wrists. Stumbling with numbness, she grabbed her clothes from the chair, dressed, and picked up the scalpel. She eased to the window and peeked out. It was night, but the moon was brilliant. From its position in the sky, Shay thought it must be around midnight. She couldn’t be more than a couple of hours from the cabin. Was she on Skyline Drive? Was Cody looking for her? Was he even alive? She turned the lock and tried to open the window. It was old, painted shut. Using the scalpel, she cut at the sealed joint and tried again. It creaked opened an inch. She laid the scalpel on the windowsill and pushed harder. It opened more, squeaking noisily. She heard footsteps in the next room and gave the window a final desperate shove. It opened, and she stuck her head out.
The door banged open. “What are you doing!” Ellis screamed.
Shay shimmied her upper body through. Ellis grabbed her feet, cursing, and tried to drag her back in. His nails dug into her ankles. She kicked and twisted. He grunted, and his grip slipped. She scraped through and dropped onto the ground. She grabbed the scalpel that had fallen and looked around. They were in the woods. A car was parked in front of the cabin. Shay ran toward the vehicle and she heard a door slam behind her. Ellis jumped off the cabin porch and charged, pointing a gun at her head.
***
Marcas’s helicopter passed overhead as the warriors regrouped in the parking lot near the cabin. The tracks had led there, and the old man at the lodge remembered hearing a car speed away at about the same time Cody had been knocked out. It was unlikely that Shay was still in the area; the kidnapper had probably gotten as far away as possible, but there was a possibility that it wasn’t a kidnapping. Cody swallowed. Whoever had her may have wanted her dead. They’d reported both Shay and Renee missing, so the cops were on the lookout as well. Sam’s crew was concentrating on the area around Luray Caverns, where the warriors hadn’t found any sign of Renee, but they’d been attacked by vampires. Sam didn’t know that.
Buffers were helping out here and in Leesburg. Shay could be anywhere. No one had any idea where to look. If the vampires had her, she could be in another country by now.
“According to what that vampire said, we know they had been looking for her,” Cody said, accepting the drink Bree handed him. Faelan had tried to keep her away, but she insisted on coming. “But I just don’t see vampires driving and using chloroform. This feels human.” He hadn’t told them what he saw Shay do. He still wasn’t sure what he had seen, but he hoped he hadn’t been dreaming. It was of some comfort to know that she had skills to protect herself, although not enough to keep her from being kidnapped.
“Those things we fought at Luray Caverns didn’t feel human. They felt like freight trains going at warp speed,” Brodie said, rubbing his back.
“Shay was lured away from the house by a man claiming to have Renee,” Lach said. “If he was a vampire, then the vampires have Renee too. What the hell do they want? They already have our book.”
Duncan slid a dirk into his boot. “Maybe one of them didn’t get the message to call off the search.”
Bree frowned. “How did they know where she was and where she was going?”
“If vampires use chloroform, maybe they use bugs too,” Brodie said. “We know they were in Nina’s house. Could’ve been eavesdropping on us the whole time. Or maybe they can read minds.”
“I wish I’d known those SOBs who attacked me were vampires,” Jamie said, his face drawn with worry. “We would’ve had a different battle plan.”
“It’s not your fault. I’m the one who didn’t protect her,” Cody said.
“The fault’s mine,” Ronan said. “The female vampire outside Renee’s shop said something about watching
“But he got here before you did,” Lach said.
“Probably figured out where I was going. Who knows what they’re capable of? From what little I’ve learned, I suspect they’re not only strong, but well funded.”
“That’s comforting,” Lach said. “A bunch of well-funded, invisible vampires.”
“Who might be able to read minds,” Brodie added. “Now we know how he got past the locks. Damn things can probably float right through keyholes.”
“We don’t even know how to fight them,” Jamie said, “other than cutting off their heads or piercing their hearts. Do they come out only at night? Do they die in sunlight? We know demons, how they operate. How do we fight what we don’t know?”
“I’ve been trying to find someone who knows about them,” Ronan said. “All I’m getting are quacks and wannabes. We need to capture one of the vampires.”
Sorcha pushed the button releasing her sword blade. “Lop off their heads. End of story.”
“Good thing you’re not in charge of gathering intel. You’d just kill everything in sight,” Duncan said.
“It works,” Sorcha said.
