Reykon let out a breath and watched the magic fade, leaving him winded and spent.
He stumbled to the driver’s side and peeled out of the garage, leaving smoke in their wake. He looked at the mirror, and saw a furious Cain, ripping his guards apart to get to the van.
Reykon’s chest was heaving at what he’d just done, directly attacking a master of his own House. After a minute of driving, he looked over to Robin, who was still in the throes of intoxication. The guard hadn’t put her seatbelt on, and Reykon leaned over, fumbling with it and finally managing to buckle her up. The glossy, unfocused stare had already started to fade, and her eyes were moving back and forth again. The effect of a vampire’s kiss would only last for about five minutes, but it was powerful, and certainly completed its job: the victim was rendered entirely incapacitated.
He zoomed down the road, putting as much space between them and Master Cain as possible. Reykon’s mind was spinning as he went over their agreed upon route one more time in his head, and then again for good measure. Right now, he needed focus.
Robin was depending on him.
And if he couldn’t pull this off, they’d both be dead.
Chapter 7: Pursuit
Lucidia
She’d been thrown back in the prison cell, with no word of plans for her retrieval.
There was likely a caravan already on its way, prepared to take her back to Darian.
Except that wouldn’t happen.
Lucidia had gotten a little distracted over the past few weeks, but she was still the daughter of Kenzo Draxos, and one of the most cunning strongbloods alive.
She needed Darian’s strongbloods to come get her because she knew their schedules inside and out. She’d trained most of them, for god’s sake. Even though they’d take precautions against that, she knew the alternate schedules just as well. There were only so many combinations you could take. It would be a matter of observation, planning, and action.
And after she weaseled her way out of Darian’s grasp, she would go after Robin.
Reykon was still hell bent on getting her to Magnus, which would be just as much of a death sentence as Darian would be.
One thing she’d been sure of: Reykon had put a tracker on Robin. It was the only possible way he could have found Robin in the middle of the Colorado Rockies.
Once she was free, she’d be able to call Maxine, who could hack into Demonte’s servers (which were about as lamely protected as Xander’s) and get the tracker ID based on proximity.
The thing about vampires was that they’re very strong, in their own habitat, but they had a tendency to stay hidden away, in caves and castles. That was all well and good, if you had people to take care of things for you, but it also left them isolated. Lucidia, over the years, had forged relationships across the web of freed supernatural creatures, living in the human world.
The nameless, the defected, the traitors; taboo labels used to distinguish vampires and strongbloods who don’t belong to any of the Great Houses, or the lesser ones for that matter. If a strongblood operating for a House comes across one of these, law says that the offender must be executed, or brought for sentencing. But the dance between policy and practice was often a complicated one; in short, no strongblood alive was going to execute one of their own kind that had gotten free and stayed alive long enough to become established in the human world.
The nameless were much too useful, and well hidden.
Lucidia had built herself a fairly strong rapport with this lot. And they had something that would be of great use to her: a sort of underground railroad, used to smuggle strongbloods, blood slaves, and even the occasional vampire out of the Houses.
She’d never used the railroad herself, but she’d used those that operated it. They had a remarkably good ear to the ground about the goings on of everything supernatural.
Vampires were strong, but they had no outside allies. And, in terms of strategy, Lucidia would rather take ten good arrows over a single harpoon any day.
She would get free of the transport, find out where Robin was going, and find a way to get there with the help of her contacts.
A few hours later, the door to the dungeon opened and a guard approached her, key outstretched.
She concealed her smile.
Robin
The last thing she remembered was Cain’s gray, unnatural skin, getting closer to her. She’d felt his rough lips press against her own. Just as she’d felt the nausea well up, another feeling had taken over her. Cain’s mouth (as revolting as it had been) had tasted sweet, like ripe pomegranate, and left a warm, buzzing feeling suffusing throughout her.
Then, the world had slowed down.
It reminded her of a horrifying drunken experience she’d had in college, sophomore year. She’d been with a dud boyfriend who’d dragged her to a frat party. Thankfully, a member of her Calc class had been there at the party and had seen someone spike her drink. Robin had only downed half of it, but Patrick, who’d remained great friends with her for years now, had dragged her out of the frat house with the help of Mimi. Now, Patrick and Mimi were married and had a beautiful baby girl.
She remembered being thankful for her friends, ready to swoop in and help, but also remembered being unable to form the words enough to thank them, once the drug had taken effect. She’d been dizzy, nauseous, and confused.
Cain’s after effects were very, very similar.
But her head had cleared quickly, and now she felt more or less normal, if not shaken.
“What the hell was that?” Robin asked, sitting up in the seat.
Reykon looked just as frazzled as she was. “I don’t know. It was against the law. He shouldn’t have done that…”
“I don’t think he cared about the laws.”
“Exactly – that’s my
