That can’t be a good sign.
Pushing the door further open, he discovered more white candles and black roses scattered across the floor. And then his heart leapt into his throat when he spotted Julie, kneeling at the far end of the room. Her eyes bulged over the gag muffling her strangled cries. She jerked toward them, but the rope binding her arms behind her back and to her ankles kept her from moving far.
She’d lost weight since her picture, and her stringy hair hung limply around her dirt-streaked face, but he didn’t see any bite marks or bruises on her.
Dante scanned the rest of the room to make sure Julie was alone; she was. Preston went to step around him, but Dante seized his arm to keep him in place. He turned to survey the lengthening shadows creeping across the stairs like insidious wraiths looking to hide whatever evil lurked below.
Julie was the bait to draw them here, but where was the trap?
And then, from somewhere below, a board creaked. This time, a rat didn’t cause it—or at least it wasn’t caused by any of the four-legged rodents. Another creak told him that whoever was behind them, wasn’t alone.
“Would you please sit still?” Kyle asked as Cassidy practically danced beside him in the back of the Uber.
“I can’t,” she muttered. “Something’s wrong; I can feel it.”
“Why don’t you connect with him?”
“I can’t; he’s shut me out.”
Kyle grasped her wrist when her fingers tapped impatiently against her knee. “Calm down; we’ll be there soon. Should I call Julian?”
She didn’t want her brothers involved, but her anxiety was turning into a living, breathing monster seeking to tear out of her like a deranged alien. It took everything she had not to claw at her chest like a crazed animal so she could set it free.
Pulling out her phone, she checked the time and reassured herself that Aida was still at the gallery. She didn’t want Julian here, and she really didn’t want Aida involved.
“Yes,” Cassidy whispered before realizing she could be signing her brother’s, and therefore Aida’s, death certificate. “No! No, don’t. If something happens to him, it will destroy Aida too, and I can’t lose both of them.”
“Julian can take care of himself.”
“I know that, but if you weren’t at work, you wouldn’t be here. I won’t have either of you getting killed because of me.”
The driver cleared her throat and shifted uncomfortably in the front seat. “It’s okay,” Kyle assured her in the soothing tone of a vampire using his ability on another. “You’re safe.”
The woman’s shoulders slumped as she flashed Kyle a smile. He settled back against the seat as Cassidy returned to tapping her fingers on her knee. Staring out the window, she willed the traffic to get out of their way. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
She was certain they were going to be too late to stop whatever was unfolding.
Chapter Forty-Two
Dante tugged Preston through the doorway and released his arm. He scanned the room again to make sure no one was hiding inside it before closing the door behind them. He reached for the locks, but his fingers fell on twisted metal. The locks, having been beaten off with something, were gone.
“Fuck,” he muttered as Preston ran away from him. Opal would not have broken off the interior locks. That was done to keep someone locked in here.
Dante turned to find Preston kneeling at Julie’s side. He searched the room for something to barricade the door, but other than the candles, roses, and Julie, the room was empty. As he strode toward Julie and Preston, he eyed the candles.
After the fire in the club, he hated the idea of letting them burn, but with the windows covered, it would be utterly dark up here. In the end, he left them burning. A fire in this place might help them escape or kill them. He preferred to leave his options open.
He arrived at the side of the siblings as Preston removed Julie’s gag and tossed it aside. She licked her lips as tears streamed down her face. Blood shone on her cracked and swollen lips.
“You’re here,” she whispered.
“We’re going to get you out of here,” Preston promised. “I’m so sorry, Julie. I don’t understand what happened.”
Julie swallowed a few times convulsively as Dante knelt to help Preston untie the ropes binding her ankles.
“It’s Jasmine,” Julie croaked. “She did this. I don’t know…” Gulp. “I don’t know what happened to her.” She released a shuddering sob. “You wouldn’t recognize her. She’s crazy, and her friends are just as crazy.”
“Friends?” Dante asked.
“Yes. I don’t know who they are, but they’re crazy, and they scare me.”
“I’m so sorry,” Preston breathed as the ropes gave way.
Julie sobbed as she threw herself into his arms, and the siblings clung to each other.
“Is there another way out of here?” he asked Preston; he didn’t see one, but maybe Preston knew something about this place that he didn’t.
“There’s another door and a set of stairs over there,” Preston said and pointed to the left.
Dante saw the faint outline of a doorway near the far corner of the room, but he had a feeling getting out of this place wouldn’t be as simple as taking the backstairs. “What about the windows?”
“The last time I was here, they were boarded over with metal. We can try tearing it off,” Preston said.
Dante looked at Julie; he could handle a jump out of the window with no problem, but it would be more difficult with her. He could land while holding her, but he wasn’t sure he could keep her from being injured.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have a choice. He trusted those backstairs about as much as he trusted an alligator petting zoo.
“What about the stairs?” Julie asked.
“They wouldn’t let us escape that easy,” he said.
“I can’t jump out
