He ground his teeth. Fuck this plan. She was worth fighting for.
And Drake had plenty of fight left in him.
Chapter Twenty-Five
David opened his eyes and winced at the overhead light. Too bright. What happened? How long had he been out? He scanned the windowless room. Block walls, a table, and stacks of boxes. He must be in a basement. He struggled to piece together his last conscious memories. Ashley. Shit. He needed to get out of here. Rolling onto his side, he flexed his hands behind his back, attempting to twist his bound wrists. Duct tape. His gaze wandered down his body. His knees and ankles were also wrapped in the silver tape. He wouldn’t get far if he had to hop. His head throbbed. At least the screeching had gone silent. He could think again.
If he could get his hands free, he could call his team. No telling if there would be a cell signal down here, but it was a start. He wrenched his arms, fighting to stretch the binding while he struggled to form a plan. He couldn’t reach his gun or his healing herbs. Hell, for all he knew, she’d already taken them from him. The Trinity Stone was out of reach now, too.
He closed his eyes and took a breath, commanding the panic to subside. Clear heads lived to fight another day. He ran through his options. Without being able to use his weapons or herbs, that left magic as his last resort. Most of the defensive spells in his wheelhouse required the use of his hands to make the corresponding symbols before the energy would flow.
A door opened, and his eyes did the same.
Footsteps padded down the stairs, and then Ashley came into view. “Comfy?”
He shrugged, still wiggling his hands behind his back. It would take hours to work the adhesive free, but he had to keep trying. “Hardly. That’s not really why you’re here anyway, is it?”
“True.” She inspected her fingernails. “My sister will be here in the morning, trading herself for you.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” David narrowed his eyes. “I broke her heart, remember? She’s seeing someone else now. I’m nothing more than an occasional client these days.”
“Bullshit.” She focused on him again, coming a couple of steps closer. “You don’t know my sister very well. It wouldn’t matter if you were her garbage man or the annoying kid across the street. She’ll come because she can’t stop herself. If someone is in danger, and she can help, she does. I always warned her it would get her killed someday.”
“Why kill her?” David shook his head, playing to her ego. “I saw what you can do. You don’t need Heather. You’re more powerful than she’ll ever be.”
“You don’t understand.” Ashley withdrew a pen from her pants pocket. His pen. Brandishing it like a wand, she pointed at his chest. “I made a deal with Davy Jones years ago in order to gain the figurehead’s power, but it comes with a price.”
David frowned. “From what I saw, it looked like you are the figurehead.”
“For now. My time is running out, though. Time to pay the piper. He’s calling me back to the Flying Dutchman.”
“Wait.” David shifted against the ground, searching for something to rub his wrists against. “You didn’t steal the figurehead from the Serpent Society?”
She rolled her eyes and dropped his pen onto his lap. “Those fanatics are just pissed about Pandora’s Box being a fake.” She waggled her fingers, the light flashing on the serpent ring around her finger. “And I guess they want this jewelry back, too. They’re not my problem right now.”
If he could get his pen, he could hit the GPS signal on the pocket clip. Too bad his hands were still bound. Unless he could bend like a contortionist and reach it with his teeth without Ashley noticing, he was screwed.
“If you didn’t take the figurehead from the monks, how did you…bond with it?”
She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and checked the time. “I didn’t come down here to monologue my plans. I just wanted to be sure you hadn’t lost your mind from the attack. No doubt Heather will need proof you’re alive before she gives me what I want.”
His gut twisted. He didn’t see a way to escape this basement. Somehow, he still had to try to save Heather. “Don’t hurt her. Through all this, she still loves you.”
“I know. Isn’t that crazy? Apparently when we shared my mother’s womb, she got all the light and I got all the darkness, but that’s about to change.” A wicked smile curved on her lips. “Once she’s out of my life, I can be the woman I was meant to be. I can finally stop being compared to my sister.”
“You don’t have to kill her. You could move away.”
She turned for the stairs, placing her hand on the rail. “Oh, I’m not going to kill her. I’m going to give her immortality.”
…
Drake parked in front of Miss Bianca’s and got out of his truck. Yes, he was early. She’d told him to come back tomorrow night, but he couldn’t wait. In the morning they would be walking into Ashley’s house with no idea what the witch had planned, and Drake damned sure wasn’t going to show up at that house without a backup plan.
He knocked on the door and waited as the seconds ticked by. The porch light came to life, and the door cracked open.
Miss Bianca peered up at him through the tiny opening in the door. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I told you tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow will be too late.” He tried to keep the desperation out of his voice. “I need the spell tonight.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” she said. “I can’t just toss some herbs into a bag and give you the ability to heal any wound and raise the dead. This takes time.”
Drake cursed under his breath. “Please. I’ll do
