Lying there, she was conscious, but incapable of movement. She had a vague thought that something was dripping into her eyes. Probably her own blood, maybe some of the
Her scope of vision swung around as she was turned over.
She looked into the
The slayer was crying as he lifted her from the floor and cradled her in his arms. The last thing she was aware of was the sight of his tears falling to her face.
She felt absolutely nothing.
O carefully lifted the female out of the cab of his truck. He wished like hell he hadn't agreed to give up his own place so he could live at the persuasion center. He would have preferred to keep her away from the other
As he carried the female through the door, he looked down at her face. She was so like his Jennifer. Different-colored eyes, but that heart-shaped face. The thick, dark hair. And the body—lean, perfectly proportioned.
Actually, she was more beautiful than Jennifer had been. And she hit harder, too.
He laid the female on the table and fingered the bruise on her cheek, the split lip, the marks on her throat. The fighting had been tremendous: all-out, nothing spared, no stopping until he won and held her spent body in his arms.
Staring at the vampire, he thought back to the past. He'd always been afraid he'd be the one to kill Jennifer, that some night all the hitting would cross the line. Instead he'd ended up murdering the drunk driver who'd nailed her car head-on. The bastard had been liquored up at five in the afternoon, and she'd just been coming home from work.
Taking her killer out had been easy. He'd found where the guy had lived and had waited for him to come home shit-faced. Then he'd beaten the man's head in with a tire iron and pushed him down the stairs. With the body cooling, O had driven north and east, all the way across the country.
Where he'd fallen into the Society.
A car pulled up outside. Quickly he picked up the female and carried her over to the holes. After slipping a halter around her chest, he opened the lid of one and dropped her inside.
'You got another?' U asked as he came inside.
'Yeah.' O made a show of looking into the other hole, at the male Mr. X had worked on the night before. The civilian was shifting in the pipe, making little scared, mewing noises.
'So let's get to work on the fresh capture,' U said.
O put his boot on the cover over the female. 'This one is mine. Anyone touches her and I will skin them with my teeth.'
'Her? Excellent. Sensei will be psyched.'
'You say nothing to him about this. We clear?'
U frowned, then shrugged. 'Sure. Whatever, man. But you know he's going to find out sooner or later. When he does, just don't think it came from me.'
O could actually see U keeping the secret, and on impulse he gave the slayer the address of the converted barn he'd been breaking into. A little boon in exchange for the
'The name of the female who lives there is Mary Luce. She was seen with a brother. Go get her, my man.'
U nodded. 'Will do, but it's close to dawn and I need to crash. I've been up for two nights too long, and I'm getting weak.'
'Tomorrow then. Now leave us.'
U cocked his head and glanced down at the pipe hole. 'Us?'
'Get the fuck out of here, U.'
U took off and O listened as the sound of the
Satisfied, he look down at the mesh cover. And couldn't stop smiling.
CHAPTER 43
Rhage did not return to the main house until five in the afternoon. As he walked through the tunnel, he made no sound. He'd taken his shoes off because they'd been soggy and then forgotten where he'd left them.
He was a live wire, the burn in him a roar he couldn't get rid of no matter how exhausted he was or how much weight he lifted or how far he ran. At this point, not that he'd even consider it, he couldn't imagine that having sex with a hundred different females would bring him down.
There was no escape for him, but he had to talk to Mary. He dreaded telling her he'd been condemned a century ago and had no idea how to explain that the beast wanted to have sex with her. But she needed to know why he stayed away.
He braced himself and opened their bedroom door. She wasn't there.
He went downstairs and found Fritz in the kitchen.
'Have you seen Mary?' he asked, doing his best to keep his voice level.
'Yes, sire. She departed.'
Rhage's blood went glacial. 'Where was she headed?'
'She didn't say.'
'Did she take anything with her? Purse? Overnight bag?'
'A book. A bagel. A parka.'
Outside. Rhage hit the underground tunnel and was at the Pit in half a minute. He pounded on the door.
Vishous took his damn time answering and was sporting boxer shorts and bed head when he did. 'What the —'
'Mary's out of the house. By herself. I need to find her.'
V went from rubbing his eyes and looking cranked-off to being totally focused. He went to his computer, called up every exterior image he had, and found her curled up in the sun right against the mansion's front doors. Which was smart. If anything came at her, she'd be able to get into the vestibule in the work of a moment.
Rhage took a deep breath. 'How do you get this thing to move in closer?'
'Hit zoom in the upper right-hand corner with the mouse.'
Rhage zeroed in. She was feeding a couple of sparrows, throwing little pieces of her bagel at them. Every once in a while she'd lift her head and look around. The smile on her face was a private one, just a slight lift to her lips.
He touched the screen, brushing his fingertip against her face. 'You know, you were wrong, my brother.'
'Was I?'
'She is my destiny.'
'Did I say she wasn't?'
Rhage looked across all the computer equipment, focusing on V's tattooed eye. 'I am not her first lover. You told me my fate was a virgin. So you were wrong.'
'I am never wrong.'
Rhage frowned, rejecting out of hand the idea that some other female would mean more to him or would take Mary's place in his heart.
Man, fuck fate if it was going to try to make him love someone else. And to hell with V's prognostications.
'Must be nice to know it all,' he muttered. 'Or at least think you do.'
As he turned and headed for the tunnel, his arm was gripped hard.
V's diamond eyes, usually so calm, were narrow and pissed off. 'When I say I'm never wrong, I'm not on an
