“I agree,” said the second man.
“With her power, we could destroy them all,” said the first man. “It was senseless to wait.”
The lust in his voice made bile rise in her throat.
“Agreed,” the second man repeated. “We need time to study her for our purposes and our purposes alone. We will give the doctor the chance to try to understand where her power comes from,” the second man said, authority in his tone.
“Then he takes her?”
“Possibly,” snapped the second man. “Or we kill her. I do not believe anyone should possess her power.”
She shuddered, even as the whiny man spoke again. “Double-cross him? That is madness.”
“Not when we have the upper hand.” The second man’s voice was cold as an iceberg.
Whom were they speaking of? Could the man who wanted to take her be Ravenhunt’s client?
The men remained silent. The scent of alcohol grew stronger. There was mustiness—it stank like a damp basement. Another door groaned on old hinges. Ophelia was brought into light. She could see it at the edges of the blindfold and feel it on her face.
Strong arms juggled her, and then a cold flat surface pressed against her back, her bottom, her legs. She had been laid on what felt like a table.
“Get the doctor in. Let’s be done with this.” The speaker was the second man.
Doctor? Was the table for operating—?
“Wait,” cried the first man. His voice was higher-pitched now. “How is the surgeon going to cut her up without touching her? I never asked. Will it not kill him?”
“It can be done with a minimum amount of contact.” That was the low-timbered tones of the second man. “He will be gloved—”
“That isn’t enough with her,” broke in the first man.
They wanted to dissect her, just as Ravenhunt had warned her. Nausea cramped in her belly. Everything Ravenhunt had told her was true. He was in truth the only person she could trust, even though he was a vampire.
But she knew it too late, far too late, for he had probably been destroyed for her.
Ravenhunt had suffered in his past. Even though he’d refused to speak of it, she seen the hint of his pain raw in his eyes, and she’d watched his body stiffen. He’d retreated from her, and she knew he was deeply troubled. She did not know how he had become a vampire, but whatever had happened to him pained him greatly.
She’d been a fool to run away from him.
The second man gave a mocking chuckle. An awful sound, filled with evil delight, and it crawled over her like rats on her skin. “She will be strapped down.”
God, no.
There was a sound, like a snap of metal. Strips of cold, hard iron pressed against her—she knew that pressure must come from the straps the man had spoken about. The flat surface of them compressed her skin, pushing down across her shoulders and her thighs.
She couldn’t pretend she was unconscious. She must fight before she was helpless.
Caught in the blanket, she thrashed and threw her body from side to side, trying to roll free.
“The monster’s awake.”
“Stop her.”
“Don’t touch her—”
But that warning came too late. Strong hands gripped her and shoved her onto her back. The man gave a howl of panic and jerked his hands away. Ophelia tried to move but the straps came across her again and were immediately cinched tight, sucking her down against the hard surface. She was bound to the table.
“The doctor will be here soon.”
Footsteps moved away from her. The door shut with a mournful creak, then she heard another sound. The
He couldn’t heal with a crossbow bolt sticking into his chest, damn it.
Raven gripped the bolt. He was weakening. It was strange—normally a crossbow bolt would bring him down, but it would not kill him. The shot had to go right through his heart to do that. This arrow had driven into his chest just below his heart, and the tip was protruding out of his side. But his hand was feeble. He could barely keep it wrapped around the shaft.
There was no way he would be destroyed before he could save Ophelia.
Growling like a wounded dog, Raven hauled on the shaft with all his waning strength. The arrow’s points tore through his flesh. Blood ran down his stomach, his crotch, his legs. All the blood from his feeding was pouring out of him. His skin was turning white. He held the arrow in his hand, but his body was not yet healing.
What in Hades was wrong?
Raven gripped the brick wall behind him, dragged himself off the blood-slicked cobbles. Now he saw the precious red fluid no longer flowed out of him like a river. The wound began to heal, more slowly than ever.
Was it something about the crossbow bolt?
Then he understood. Taking Ophelia’s power was supposed to destroy him. He’d assumed it would happen quickly, maybe in a blinding flash of flame, or a big agonizing
He’d never thought to ask what exactly would happen. Not that he would have trusted the vampire queen Jade to give him the truth.
Dredging up the rest of his strength, he shifted shape. How was he going to find Ophelia?
He tried to glimpse into her thoughts. Vampires could do it with their prey. Get into the thoughts of the mortal they wanted. But he couldn’t with Ophelia.
She was not prey, after all.
He tried to connect with her thoughts, speak to her that way. He knew of vampires who could do that with a lover.
“Ravenhunt?” Ophelia whispered.
She was rubbing her head against the table, twisting it, and trying to move up and down. The surface was wood, and the blindfold had snagged on splinters. She could work it free. “Ravenhunt, are you here?” she whispered.
He’d said that before. It hadn’t made any sense. “You cannot do that,” she whispered.
Could she? She shut her eyes, with the blindfold still covering them, but looser, and she thought very hard.
In her head, she heard a gentle deep laugh.
