Chains of Darkness (Men in Chains 2)

Rumy shook his head. “No, this is solid information. You have to remember, I have a spy network more powerful than your CIA.”

Claire believed him, yet something didn’t feel right. “If you have this information, isn’t there a strong possibility that Daniel will as well?”

“If he doesn’t have it now, he soon will.” Lucian held Claire’s gaze. “Would you be willing to see if we can track it together?”

“Of course.” Could they truly form a tracking pair? She’d soon find out.

For some reason, her words stopped Lucian. He stared at her unblinking for a long moment.

“What is it?”

Finally he gave himself a shake, but what she felt from the chains was a strong sense of disbelief.

At that, her lips curved. “Should I be offended that you’ve thought so little of me? I told you I would help you, but it appears you didn’t believe me.”

“I’ll admit I’m surprised. I thought by now, after all that you’ve been through back at Daniel’s cavern system and even here”—he waved toward the bed, referring to the recent feeding—“you might want to take off and frankly, I wouldn’t blame you.”

“I won’t say the thought hasn’t crossed my mind, especially given the numbers that Rumy so recently shared with me. But I want to be here, to do what I can. And yes, I realize that the odds are against my friend still being alive. Still, maybe once we’ve followed this current lead, we can use the same tracking ability to find Zoey.”

“Absolutely.” He took her hand once more. “Again, I’m so sorry Claire, about all of this.”

She looked into his eyes and believed him. The more she knew about Lucian, the more she saw him as someone very heroic in his world. He wasn’t anything like she’d expected, on any level, starting with his sheer size. But he was a good man, one she could trust.

Yet he was also a vampire, something she needed to remember. It wouldn’t do any good to get attached to the man, not when her heart still lived in Santa Fe, with her mom and dad and her two younger brothers, where she’d been building a life as a social worker and trying to make a difference in her community. For the past two years, she’d envisioned returning home—and that dream, more than anything else, had kept her alive and moving forward despite her captivity.

She nodded several times, drawing her hand out of his clasp. “I think we should get changed, then figure out how to track this weapon.”

Chapter 3

Lucian watched the auburn-haired human gather up her clothes and disappear into the bathroom. He was stunned at her resolve. She’d already been through so much and had only recently learned that her friend was probably dead, but she still wanted to help. Where had so much essential courage come from?

He liked Claire—that’s what he decided in this moment. From the beginning he’d felt her strength, despite the fact that she looked physically fragile with her pale skin, and the tender compassion that she displayed as her most basic quality. This was a woman who could go the distance.

A woman he’d just kissed.

But he couldn’t think about that right now, or how much the experience had warmed his heart. They had a job to do.

He changed into his battle leathers once more, with a long-sleeved T-shirt. He shifted his attention to this thing called a tracking ability, something the blood-chains were supposed to have created between them. He’d never done anything like this before.

But one thing he knew for certain: In the same way that Claire had an innate ability to create disguises—something the siphoning of his power had allowed her to do—she was the one who carried the tracking gene.

When she emerged from the bathroom, back in her casual clothes, she hung up the black dress, her chin firm. She appeared ready to go to work. “So tell me what you know about the tracking power.”

Lucian nodded. He approved of her demeanor and of the vibration in his chain that spoke of her resolve. “For the most part, the capacity to track people and things belongs to you.”

“You mean, like the disguising power I have.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay.” She spread her hands wide. “So, how do you think I can access it? What do I do?”

He took her hands once more, connecting his power to her more securely. “Just try focusing your thoughts on the weapon.”

She closed her eyes, and his chains vibrated with her efforts to concentrate. He remained very still to let her do her thing.

After a moment he sensed a shift and watched her brows rise, then fall. When she opened her eyes, she shook her head. “For a second there, I sensed something, a definite shape. I mean, it was real. But then it just sort of disappeared.”

“Good, that’s good. Try again.”

She repeated the process. As before he felt the change in her. He could sense how hard she was working to find the weapon, as though reaching through time and space.

At last, she opened her eyes but once more shook her head. “I feel close to the object, but I really do lack the power to complete the connection.”

“You know what it is?” Rumy drew close and glanced up at Lucian.

“Don’t say it,” Lucian snapped, but he could see that his abrupt response startled Claire. “Sorry.”

He turned back to Rumy. “I’m not going there. I promised myself that I’d never take that step. It’ll bring me too close to being what my father is.”

“What do you mean, what your father is?” Claire shook her head, frowning.

“An Ancestral.”

“Oh, right. We talked about that earlier.”

“If Lucian would take the leap and become an Ancestral vampire, he’d have enough power to take your tracking ability the distance. He could also serve as a judge in one of our courts or rule the Ancestral Council himself.”

Lucian let go of her hands and scrubbed his fingers through his short hair. “It’s one of the things that level of power would achieve.”

She glanced from one to the other. “This is an advanced civilization, then.”

Lucian glanced at her. Once more, Claire seemed surprised, which of course did nothing for his habitually short temper. “Yes. We even walk around on two feet and don’t drag our arms on the ground.”

But she laughed, her light-brown eyes sparkling. “Oh, come on. You must have seen some of our vampire movies, especially the older ones. You have a reputation in the human world. Which means that I just didn’t expect, when Rumy brought me here to what is essentially a sex club, that I’d be hearing about judges, leadership, and Ancestrals. Just please give me some time to catch up.”