The soldiers stared at her.
She wasn’t sure if any of them understood English, but she had to try. “I’m a scientist. I have a business proposition for Master Han.” She didn’t know what, but she’d make it up as she went.
The tallest of the four soldiers said something in Chinese, and two of the soldiers sheathed their swords and tied Howard’s hands behind his back. They disarmed him, then pushed him down into a sitting position.
More soldiers gathered outside on the ledge. The lowering sun gleamed off their swords.
A huge soldier pushed through them and strode into the cave. She recognized him as the one called Sawat. All the soldiers inclined their heads, so apparently he was their leader. His angry glare passed over Howard and her to the back of the cave. He marched past her and knocked the screen to the floor.
He glanced over the three Vamps. “
“Glad to see you’ve learned some English, Sawat.” Howard smirked. “But I think your voice has gotten higher.”
With a growl, Sawat pulled a knife and pointed it at Howard’s throat. “Where’s the tiger?”
Howard glared up at him.
Abigail winced when a drop of blood trickled down Howard’s neck. “He’s not here. He didn’t come with us.”
Sawat snorted. “He’s here. I’ll find him.” He marched outside and barked orders in Chinese. A group of soldiers took off. Sawat remained on the ledge, scanning the mountains, no doubt looking for Rajiv.
She eased closer to Gregori.
The tall soldier noticed and motioned to the heater. “You sit here. Or we’ll have to tie you up.”
“You speak English?” she asked as she lowered herself onto the cave floor.
He ignored her and called out something to Sawat. Outside on the ledge, Sawat yelled a command, and two soldiers entered the cave, carrying a black lacquered box with gold metal corners. They went straight to the back of the cave.
She sat up, craning her neck to see what they were taking out of the box. They looked like metal bands linked together with a short, thick chain. The soldiers snapped the cuffs on the Vamps’ forearms and locked them. When the bands wouldn’t fit around the men’s boots, they removed the boots and locked the cuffs around their ankles.
They found knives in the boots and more knives strapped to the Vamps’ calves. They gathered them up, along with the rifles and pistols, and stashed them in a pile by the entrance of the cave.
“The cuffs are made of silver,” the tall soldier explained. “It will keep them from teleporting away.”
“And burn like hell, if they attempt to remove them,” a British-accented voice said outside the cave.
She jerked around to the front. A man stood next to Sawat, dressed in black leather pants, a black shirt, and a long black leather coat. Was this Master Han?
His clothes weren’t dusty like those of the soldiers who had crossed the gorge and climbed up to the cave. His hair was shoulder-length and black, but he wasn’t Asian.
“Lord Darafer,” Sawat murmured, bowing low.
The other soldiers also bowed as the newcomer sauntered inside the cave. They kept their eyes downcast, as if afraid to gaze any higher than his knees. He looked around with sparkling green eyes and an amused tilt to his mouth.
“My lord.” The tall soldier bowed low.
Darafer crossed his arms and heaved a resigned sigh. “Wu Shen.”
“Yes, my lord.” The tall soldier bowed again.
“You know how much I hate human error.”
The tall soldier turned pale. “Yes, my lord.”
“And yet you try my patience. And I have no patience.”
Wu Shen bowed. “A thousand pardons, my lord.”
Darafer gestured toward Howard. “This one is a were-bear. He could shift and rip your head off.”
Wu Shen’s eyes widened. He spoke quickly to the soldiers with the black lacquered box. They rushed over to Howard and snapped silver bands around his wrists behind his back. When they moved in front of him to cuff his ankles, he growled at them, and they jumped back.
Darafer chuckled. “Don’t be afraid. The bear cannot shift now.” His eyes glowed like polished emeralds. “Even if he could, he would be no match for me.”
Abigail sucked in a deep breath while the soldiers snapped the cuffs around Howard’s ankles. Darafer could defeat a Kodiak bear? He had weird eyes, too, and the soldiers seemed to fear him. She had a sick feeling in her gut that he wasn’t human. Then what was he? It was daylight, so he couldn’t be a vampire.
He paced toward the back of the cave, then sauntered toward the entrance. “Sawat.”
“Yes, my lord.” Sawat came in and bowed.
“I count five prisoners.”
Sawat grew pale. “Yes, my lord.”
“And yet your report claimed there were six sleeping bags at the other cave. And I count six here. Is someone missing?”
Sawat shifted his feet. “The were-tiger may have escaped.”
“Over the Leaping Tiger Gorge?” Darafer chuckled. “That’s rich.”
Sawat looked relieved. “Yes, my lord.”
Darafer’s face turned grim. “You screwed up. Go look for him in the gorge.” He extended a hand, and a blast of air blew Sawat off his feet, through the air, and over the cliff. His scream echoed in the canyon, then abruptly cut off.
A chill skittered down Abigail’s back. Her gut was correct. Darafer was not human.
He turned to the tall soldier and smiled. “Good news, Wu Shen. You’ve just been promoted.”
Wu Shen bowed, his face ashen. “You are most kind, my lord.”
“Don’t mention it.” Darafer gazed about the cave, his green eyes twinkling with amusement. “So . . . we have a shifter who can’t shift, three vampires who can’t teleport, and . . .” His gaze fell on Abigail. “And a loving daughter who can’t save her mother.”
She flinched.
He strolled toward her. “How desperate are you, Abigail Tucker? I could save her, you know. It might be fun to have your father indebted to me.”
“Don’t talk to him,” Howard growled.
Darafer glanced at him and smiled. “The bear knows who I am.” His gaze shifted back to Abigail and his eyes hardened. “You have something that belongs to me.”
She shook her head. “I’ve never met you before.”
He smirked. “I was there six years ago at your father’s rally when a man sneaked in with a handgun. Unfortunately he had to brag about it and get himself caught. I hate human error.” His eyes suddenly turned black, and she gasped.
He extended a hand toward her backpack. It unzipped on its own, and the plastic bag containing the Demon Herb flew into his hand.
He chuckled, his eyes returning to green. “They don’t call it the Demon Herb for nothing.”
Darafer removed the Demon Herb and sniffed it. “Best stuff I ever created.” He shrugged. “I know. You’re thinking only the Big Kahuna can create. That’s true to a certain extent.”
He twirled the branch of Demon Herb between his thumb and forefinger. “But I can take something He made and distort it, corrupt it. For centuries, I had a jolly good time mutating things into diseases and plagues. Then it occurred to me, instead of making humans weak and useless, why not do the opposite? Why not make something that actually turns humans into supermen? That I control, of course.”
He stuffed the Demon Herb into his coat pocket. “Imagine how much pain and despair I can wreak upon the world when I control an army of supermen?”
