Reykon shook his head. “No can do. You probably thought there’d be an opportunity to run or get help. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m very careful, and I like having multiple backups. This is how it works: we go in, like two normal people on a normal day, acting normally. If you try to run, I zap you. If you try to alert somebody about the nature of your predicament, I zap you. Electrical convulsions look remarkably like seizures. If that happens, I, your loving husband, will assure everybody that you have epilepsy, and rush you to the car. We’ll screech out to get you to the “hospital” in time. Once we’re a respectable distance away, I’ll put you in the trunk, and we’ll go on our merry way. Understand?”
Her eyes flared in anger and frustration. She gave a bitter nod and glanced back at the volatile weapon now attached to her wrist.
“The only way that thing comes off is if I press this button,” he said, pointing to the remote. Her chest clenched when his finger neared the small controls, in fear that he’d bump the wrong one. It was like being leashed to a bomb.
He pulled the gloves off and put the remote back into his pocket. He grabbed a knife from his boot, one that she hadn’t seen and didn’t even know existed. Reykon flipped the blade out, sharp and glistening.
She pressed further against the door as he brought the knife towards her.
“Still,” he warned, moving the sweatshirt from her lap and steadying her hands. In one fluid motion, the zip tie was cut, and she could pull her hands apart. He slipped it under each loop, holding her hand with a near-delicate touch. The feeling of his hands on her skin set her teeth on edge.
He did the same to the ties on her feet.
She winced as she flexed her arms, stretching them away. Her joints had grown stiff from being stuck in the same position for hours and hours and ached as she moved them.
Reykon got out of the car and she tracked him with her eyes, watching as he came to her side and opened the door. He held a hand out for her and she glared at him, standing and walking around him, steps angry against the pavement.
He closed the door and quickly matched her pace, getting the restaurant door for both her and an older couple, who called him ‘such a nice young man’. Robin glanced to him, seeing the charming smile he flashed them. Nobody would ever guess it, she thought in disgust.
She tried to act normally, but felt stiff and awkward, still in shock from the surreal events that surrounded her. Reykon put a reassuring – but threatening – hand against her back and nudged her forward. She realized that she was holding her left wrist, the manacled one, a few inches away from her, and she let it rest as naturally as possible.
At every turn, she searched for the possibility of escape. But five miles was a long way to get with a taser bracelet. An impossible distance. He’d been so confident, pulling into the half-full lot, and now she knew why. He’d thought it out perfectly. In resigned anger, she went into the bathroom, came out, and got back into the car with him. It was her only option.
Reykon
They pulled into Rendezvous Point A at about 9:30 p.m., fifteen minutes shy of his predicted time. He liked to move quickly, and he liked to stay on schedule.
The hotel in Boise, Idaho was a five-star luxury resort-type; the last place someone would look for an abductor and his victim. Also, if you’re going to spend your last week of freedom being carted from hotel to hotel, he imagined it was better to do it in style.
They went up to the fifth floor, where their room had been reserved. At this point, he wasn’t concerned about any supernatural party-crashers; they’d likely become a problem the closer they got to their destination. Lucidia had no doubt heard about his presence in Portland from her contacts, but he wasn’t concerned about her quite yet. She still had to find a way to weasel out of Darian’s grasp and then come after them. That would take her a hot minute, no matter how skilled she was.
He led Robin into the room and closed the door behind them, setting his backpack and her duffel on a chair.
She stood in the center of the room, surveying the space. A king bed, modern mahogany and chrome furniture, a large plasma TV, and a beautiful bathroom with a high-tech shower. An expansive room with a view of the Boise cityscape. He’d seen a thousand rooms like it but wondered how many times she had. She came from the world of discount family vacations, walks on the beach, and budget hotels, most likely.
From the second he’d laid eyes on her, he’d known this assignment would be a hard one. He hated when they were so innocent, so likeable. Robin had this way about her, this utterly carefree embrace for life. His thoughts flashed back to her apartment, her bedroom; how her head had thrown back, her blond hair fanned out on her bed, the delicate shake of her shoulders as she’d laughed. It was a beautiful laugh. One he wanted to hear again.
Now, though, he faced another unpleasant task.
This assignment had been peculiar for a whole host of reasons. The first – why was a weakblood allowed to live to adulthood in the human world? Also, how had they come to know about her? And finally, why was her welfare and delivery such a concern to Magnus?
He’d never been asked to take such precautions before. Prior to the actual mission, he had to map out his route and present it to Magnus privately for approval. The vampire also wanted a picture of his prize at the beginning, middle, and end of their
